Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.
After a horrific car accident a man lies in hospital with severe burns to almost all of his body. He endures the pain, the hideous disfigurement and the excruciating treatments to remove the dead and rotting skin only in the hope of becoming well enough to end his life.
Then Marianne Engel, sculptor of gargoyles, appears. She unravels a wild, impossible tale of a life they had together, a tale that begins with her nursing him when he was burned once before, seven hundred years ago in Germany. Weaving stories within her story, fables of love in Japan, Iceland, Italy and England, Marianne slowly brings beauty and love into his life.
The Gargoyle is a brilliant love story, sweeping across centuries and continents. When it ends you’ll want to read it again.
Praise for The Gargoyle:
'The Gargoyle is purely and simply an amazement, a riot, a blast… What a great, grand treat.' Peter Straub
'I was blown away by The Gargoyle… A hypnotic, horrifying, astonishing novel that manages, against all odds, to be redemptive.' Sara Gruen, author of 'Water for Elephants'
'Once launched into this intense tale of unconventional romance, few readers will want to put it down.' Publishers Weekly
'I dare you to read this without flinching. It's as engrossing as it is gruesome, the kind of horror you watch with one eye closed… nothing is certain in this swirling novel of tales and legends… Nothing he, or you, can assume about this spectacularly imaginative journey will help navigate its twists and turns. Before it's all over, like Dante before him, our narrator must visit Hades, and like every chapter of The Gargoyle, that's a hell of a story, too.'
Washington Post
About the author:
Andrew Davidson was born in Manitoba and graduated in 1995 with a BA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia. He has worked and lived in Japan on and off for several years, teaching English and writing English lessons for Japanese websites. The Gargoyle is his first book. He lives in Manitoba, Canada.