Faber & Faber

Consolation: James Wilson

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Synopsis:

1910, and Corley Roper, an eminent children’s author of his age, mourns the death of his young daughter. Estranged from his wife, and wracked by grief, he happens one night upon Mary Wilson, a woman in a similar position, as she mourns the still birth of her son. No longer able to inhabit the fictional world that made his name, and haunted by the spectre of this other lost child, Roper decides that it is only through engaging with the real world, and the mystery of Mary Wilson’s dispossessed heritage, that he may find purpose. Meanwhile, a young American journalist, Alice Dangerfield, has travelled across the Atlantic on a quest of her own, to track down her most cherished author.

Beautifully imagined and written, Consolation is a novel about grief and family secrets. Part-ghost story and part-ove story, it also a novel about the redeeming value of art.

‘Drawing on the history of his own family and blending it seamlessly with fiction, James Wilson brings a century-old story to life through the compelling evocation of Corley’s voice, as well as painstaking attention to the detail of the period. The result is an animated, haunting and surprisingly uplifting novel.’ Observer

Tags:

Categorised as:

Fiction

Sub-categories:

General Fiction

Genres & Themes:

Art; Bereavement; Ghosts; Love; Secrets