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The romance of the
physician Valentine and blind Julia provides the central thread
of this engrossing novel, which brings alive the world of the
Roman Empire at the time of Claudius II a time when Christians
were amongst those whose deaths provided public entertainment
in the Flavian Amphitheatre and the Circus Maximus. It is a novel
with remarkable resonances, its ideas startlingly relevant to
our own times: globalisation vs. fundamentalism, reason vs. superstition,
civil law vs. personal freedom, the perverse gratifications of
sex and violence, the subversion of virtue by wealth and the
power of passionate love to overcome all obstacles to its consummation.
Valentine is Chet Raymo's first novel since The Dork
of Cork (Warner Books 1993), which is still in print, was translated
into fourteen languages and was filmed as Frankie Starlight (directed
by Michael Lindsay-Hogg).
His acclaimed first
novel, In the Falcon's Claw (Viking Penguin 1990) was
also widely published in translation. In the Falcon's Claw "A
novel of never-ending pleasure... superbly innovative. It is
a work of rare and irreverent intelligence." Le Figaro
Littéraire
"A metaphysical
thriller comparable to Umberto Eco's In the Name of the Rose,
but more poetic, more moving and more sensual." Lire
The Dork of Cork
"Moving... memorable...
a richly poetic book about beauty and destiny, at once compelling
and complex." Los Angeles Times
Chet Raymo recently
retired as professor of physics and astronomy at Stonehill College,
Massachusetts. He has been a teacher, writer, novelist, illustrator
and naturalist, exploring the relationships between science,
nature and the humanities. A winner of a Lannan Literary Award,
his non-fiction includes Skeptics and True Believers, The Soul
of the Night, Honey from Stone, and The Path: A one-mile walk
through the universe.
ISBN 0 86322
327 3; 288 pages; 234 x 156mm; Paperback Original Novel; January
2005
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