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Critics' Opinion:
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First Published:
Sep 2006, 672 pages
Paperback:
Oct 2007, 704 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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Convinced he is destined for greatness, Glyver will stop at nothing to win back a prize that he knows is rightfully his. A story of betrayal and treachery, of death and delusion, of ruthless obsession and ambition.
The atmosphere of Bleak House, the sensuous thrill of Perfume, and the mystery of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell all combine in a story of murder, deceit, love, and revenge in Victorian England.
"After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper."
So begins the extraordinary story of Edward Glyver--booklover, scholar,
and murderer. As a young boy, Glyver always believed he was destined
for greatness. A chance discovery convinces him that he was right:
greatness does await him, along with immense wealth and influence.
Overwhelmed by his discovery, he will stop at nothing to win back a
prize that he knows is rightfully his.
Glyver's path to reclaim
his prize leads him from the depths of Victorian London, with its foggy
streets, brothels, and opium dens, to Evenwood, one of England's most
beautiful and enchanting country houses, and finally to a consuming
love for the beautiful but enigmatic Emily Carteret. His is a story of
betrayal and treachery, of death and delusion, of ruthless obsession
and ambition. And at every turn, driving Glyver irresistibly onward, is
his deadly rival: the poet-criminal Phoebus Rainsford Daunt.
The Meaning of Night is an enthralling novel that will captivate readers right up to its final thrilling revelation.
Part the First
Death of a Stranger
October–November 1854
What a skein of ruffled silk is the uncomposed man.
Owen Felltham, Resolves (1623), ii, ‘Of Resolution’
1
Exordium[1]
After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s[2] for an
oyster supper.
It had been surprisingly – almost laughably – easy. I had followed him for
some distance, after first observing him in Threadneedle-street. I cannot
say why I decided it should be him, and not one of the others on whom my
searching eye had alighted that evening. I had been walking for an hour or
more in the vicinity with one purpose: to find someone to kill. Then I saw
him, outside the entrance to the Bank, amongst a huddle of pedestrians
waiting for the crossing-sweeper to do his work. Somehow he seemed to stand
out from the crowd of identically dressed clerks and City men streaming
forth from the premises. He stood regarding the ...
The characters are delightfully typecast - there's the tragic figure of our much put-upon anti-hero who is driven to commit violence for what he believes is a justified cause; a truly dastardly old-Etonian poetry-spouting villain (who, if this was a play, would receive hisses from the audience every time he came on stage); the exceedingly wealthy and influential Lord Tansor, living off the gains of his brighter ancestors; a dead-ringer for Uriah Heap; plus a massive supporting cast representing every strata of society, both urban and country; and last but not least, Evenwood House itself and its great library - the representation of everything that Edward yearns for but that remains tantalizingly out of reach...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
In the acknowledgments for The
Meaning of Night, Michael Cox notes
that three real places contributed in
various ways, to the making of Evenwood,
the extremely grand private estate at
the heart of this novel. These are
Drayton House and
Deene Park, both in Northamptonshire and
Burghley House. If you have plans
to read this book, or have read it, it's
worth a few minutes of your time to
visit these houses online, to get a
sense of what Evenwood would have been
like.
Books are an integral part of the
intricate...
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