Jane Urquhart Knihy

Exploring themes of love, identity, and memory, the stories delve into the lives of diverse characters across various settings. A woman seeks solace in the English moors, while a middle-aged wife confronts her husband's estrangement. A grandmother reveals a youthful secret, and a young woman finds her path through an Italian saint's life. The collection also offers a glimpse into Robert Browning's mind, revealing the complexities of artistic jealousy. Urquhart masterfully transforms ordinary objects into vessels of profound meaning.

Ein Sommer im Jahr 1889 an den Niagarafällen in Ontario. Es ist die Saison für leichtsinnige Wassersprünge, und die Witwe des Leichenbestatters ist mit Beerdigungen vollauf beschäftigt. Ihre Tage sind getrübt von dem unerklärlichen Schweigen ihres jungen Sohnes. Im Kick-Hotel haben Fleda und ihr Mann David ein Zimmer genommen, wie jedes Jahr, und Fleda träumt von ihrer Begegnung mit dem jungen Dichter Browning, die einst am Fuße der Niagarafälle stattfand und ihr ganzes Leben veränderte. Zur selben Zeit sinniert der Dichter Browning in Venedig über seinen nahenden Tod. Am Ende des Sommers verbinden sich die Schicksalsfäden dieser Menschen und ein Opfer wird im Strudel der Ereignisse zu beklagen sein.

The Underpainter is a novel of interwoven lives in which the world of art collides with the realm of human emotion. It is the story of Austin Fraser, an American painter now in his later years, who is haunted by memories of those whose lives most deeply touched his own, including a young Canadian soldier and china painter and the beautiful model who becomes Austin’s mistress. Spanning decades, the setting moves from upstate New York to the northern shores of two Great Lakes; from France in World War One to New York City in the ’20s and ’30s. Brilliantly depicting landscape and the geography of the imagination, The Underpainter is Jane Urquhart’s most accomplished novel to date. From the Hardcover edition.

This is a novel of intersecting memories that explores the meaning of separation and reunion, the sorrows of fractured families, and the profound effect of Ireland's harshly beautiful landscape on lives lived in solitude.

In 1867 a good-natured Bavarian priest, is sent by God and mad King Ludwig to the wilds of North America. Soon the backwoods are transformed into a parish and the settlers into a congregation, and Joseph Becker, a woodcarver, meets his future wife. Several decades later, Joseph Becker teaches his astounding carving skills to his grandchildren. One of them, Klara, shows exceptional talent and has a surfeit of what the local nuns call "a fondness for men's work." Untamed, she falls in love with an Irish boy, Eamon O'Sullivan, only to have him leave to fight in the Great War . . .

Jerome is a young earth-artist spending a few months on an island in Lake Ontario. But his idyll is shattered when he discovers a man frozen in the ice near the shore. One year later Sylvia, the dead man's lover, appears at his studio driven by the need to recount her story to the stranger who discovered him. A tender and haunting story unfolds which stretches long and wide, a story that begins with Sylvia's childhood and mysterious illness and ends with her lover's tragic death. This deeply evocative and romantic novel is about the fragility of love and memory, and the redemptive power of stories.

The award-winning author of The Whirlpool returns with a seductive, powerful, and humorous novel of the lives of four generations of extraordinary women that "charts the restless weather of the human heart . . . the way the ancient Greeks mapped the constellations" (Washington Post).

A novel of family legacies, love and betrayal...

The novel showcases unusual emotional depth and compassion, marking a significant achievement in the author's career. It promises a richly rewarding experience for readers, reflecting the profound themes and character development that are hallmarks of the author's storytelling.