Air and Fire [Paperback]

Rupert Thomson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

At the turn of the century Theophile and Suzanne Valence sail into the Mexican copper-mining town of Santa Sofia. Theo has travelled here to build a metal church designed by his mentor, the great engineer Gustave Eiffel. His wife Suzanne, wayward and graced with the gift of clairvoyance is deeply in love and has insisted on accompanying him. But the magical landscape inspires no answering passion in Theo. In her loneliness she turns to the American gold prospector Wilson Pharaoh, and soon he, like the town and its inhabitants, falls under her spell, an enchantment as seductive as Suzanne herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thomson is an English novelist whose Dreams of Leaving and The Five Gates of Hell have been well received on both sides of the Atlantic; and Air and Fire is quite a tour de force. Set in an acutely observed Baja California, Mexico, just before the turn of the century, it is the story of a French engineer, Theo Valence, an associate of the great Gustav Eiffel, sent out to set up a prefabricated iron church to the glory of the French colony in a remote mining town. His beautiful wife Suzanne, an adventurous soul who loves her husband much more powerfully than he can ever love her, is at once appalled and entranced by the grindingly hot, dusty town and its Mexican and Indian inhabitants. A rootless young American prospector, Wilson Pharaoh, falls passionately under her spell but cannot bring himself to interfere with what he thinks of as a happy marriage, and rides off blindly into the desert. She also comes to obsess the local Mexican army commander, who writes her a florid love letter, takes her for a trip in his private submarine and, to show his suicidal passion, shoots his horse for her sake. These events give only a hint of the remarkable blend of surrealism and romantic extravagance, dreams and harsh reality, that Thomson achieves. His writing is at once spare and rich, evoking a dazzlingly strange world with humor and terror; and the dying fall of the ending is poignantly exquisite. Air and Fire is that unusual combination, a powerfully felt romance that is also literature.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Thomson's lyrical new work opens at sea as Suzanne Valence travels with her husband, Theopile, to Santa Sofia, Mexico. There Theopile, a protege of A.G. Eiffel, is directing the construction of a church. Much younger than her husband, who neglects her for his work, and unconventional without quite realizing it, Suzanne creates quite a stir in Santa Sofia: the French community doesn't know what to make of her, and she is relentlessly pursued by Captain Montoya. The one person who truly appreciates her is an American prospector named Wilson Pharaoh, who eventually risks his life to save hers--without, however, winning her love. Suzanne's growing alienation from those around her is paralleled by native resistance to outside domination, directed as much at the Mexican government as the Europeans, though the church is eventually destroyed in an uprising. Celebrating dignity in the face of disillusion, Thomson's exquisite tale boasts finely detailed settings, rich and apt characterization, and a flood of beautiful writing. His ability to get inside a woman's skin without turning her into a cause is particularly impressive. Recommended for most collections.
- Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747536945
• ISBN-13: 978-0747536949
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,997,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)