Shroud (Vintage International (Paperback)) Book

One part Nietzsche, one part Humbert Humbert, and a soupcon of Miltonâ??s Lucifer, Axel Vander, the dizzyingly unreliable narrator of John Banvilleâ??s masterful new novel, is very old, recently widowed, and the bearer of a fearsome reputation as a literary dandy and bully. A product of the Old World, he is also an escapee from its conflagrations, with the wounds to prove it. And everything about him is a lie. Now those lies have been unraveled by a mysterious young woman whom Vander calls â??Miss Nemesis.â? They are to meet in Turin, a city best known for its enigmatic shroud. Is her purpose to destroy Vander or to save himâ??or simply to show him what lies beneath the shroud in which he has wrapped his life? A splendidly moving exploration of identity, duplicity, and desire, Shroud is Banvilleâ??s most rapturous performance to date.Read More