Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Chemistry of Tears - Peter Carey


Can I get excited now? Officially excited?

I think so, due for release in 2012 is the new Peter Carey. He is one of my favourite cups of tea and this story looks brewed just right. One thing I love about this time of year is the hints of the books of 2012.

A bit more about the book here from Penguin Books Australia.

When Catherine's lover dies suddenly, she has no-one to turn to - their affair had been disguised from their colleagues and his family - except her work. A middle-aged curator in a London museum, Catherine is given a very particular project by the perceptive head of her department: a box of intricate clockwork parts that appear to be the remains of a nineteenth century automaton - a beautifully made mechanical bird.
 When she discovers that the box also contains the diary of the man who commissioned the machine, she is partially rescued from one obsession by another - who were Henry Brandling and the mysterious, visionary clockmaker he hired to make a gift for his absent son? And what was the end result that now sits in pieces in her studio?  
 The Chemistry of Tears is both wildly entertaining and deeply moving, a portrait of love and loss that is simultaneously delicate and anarchic. At its heart is an image only the masterful Peter Carey could breath such life into - an object made of equal parts magic, art and science, a delight that contains the seeds of our age's downfall.

Have been slogging away editing and absorbing feedback and family dramas, so I shall dangle this, my carrot, a reward for when all is done.

2 comments:

Elisabeth said...

Sounds fantastic. I look forward to getting my copy and reading into what sounds like another world, one that reminds me of AS Byatt's Possession.

Mary McCallum said...
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