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by Niall Williams
Time has already stopped for Stephen Griffin when he moves into the little house by the sea.
Twenty-eight years old and haunted by death, the tall, awkward, shy schoolteacher is Content to care for his father in Dublin and let life pass him by.
Then a miracle appears: a string ensemble from Venice and, with it, a violinist named Gabriella Castoldi. Even though the worldly, beautiful musician seems incapable of giving her heart, love seizes Stephen Griffin ... unbidden and shaking every particle of his spirit.
Stephen's ailing father sees it and fears for his naive son. Nelly Grant, the green-grocer, predicted it and welcomes its sheer joy. Moses Mooney, the blind musician, has sensed its coming. None, however, can envision the depth and consequence of this union. For Gabriella will change not only Stephen's life but, in the deepest sense, the lives of everyone around them.
"As It Is In Heaven" evokes the magical essence of romance and its miraculous ability to grace even the darkest lifewith light. Splendidly crafted and charged with poignancy, it firmly establishes Niall Williams as a master storyteller in the grand tradition of Irish literature.
"A powerful portrait of tragedy and the redemption offered by love, a remarkable first novel...spellbinding. Brilliant." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"In spare, beautiful language, Williams wonderfully explores the mystery that is love." —USA Today
"Lush and lyrical, a compelling meditation on love, art, and the vicissitudes of love." —San Francisco Chronicle
This information about As It Is in Heaven was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Niall Williams was born in Dublin in 1958. He is a playwright and the author of four books written with his wife, the artist Christine Breen, about their life in County Clare with their two children.
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