Courting Shadows [Hardcover]

Jem Poster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2008

In the winter of 1881 John Stannard, a young architect, is in self-imposed exile in a remote English village, carrying out repairs to the parish church. Arrogant and insensitive to what he considers superstition and sentimental attachment to the past, he soon begins to inflict serious damage on the ancient building as well as on those with whom he comes into contact--most notably the beautiful, ambitious young local girl Ann Rosewell.

This is the mesmerizing tale of a man who clings ferociously to his warped notion of civilized behavior, unwilling to admit his need for love. Set in a vividly evoked landscape and taut with foreboding, Jem Poster's striking first novel pits reason against emotion, progress against preservation, and explores our capacity for invention and selfdelusion--the stories we tell each other and the stories we tell ourselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In Poster's dazzling debut, set amid the Victorian gloom of 1881, snobbish John Stannard leads the restoration of a small, architecturally undistinguished church in a remote British village. It's unglamorous work that the young architect thinks beneath him, what with having to disinter corpses, fend off enraged townsfolk and dole out 19th-century workers comp to injured laborers. Further complicating Stannard's effort is the church's curate, Mr. Banks, who seeks to preserve all of what Stannard aims to modernize and improve, no matter how rotten or broken. The debate between the two men escalates when, stripping plaster from a wall, one of Stannard's employees uncovers a Doom Painting—a folk mural blending Christian and pagan influences dating from medieval times. At the same time, the buttoned-up Stannard begins to experience previously unknown passion, falling for the beautiful 19-year-old Ann Rosewell, an emigmatic local woman. The variously grotesque characters are spot-on, as is the static, lugubrious setting. Poster, who has worked as an archeologist, is formidable in his command of Victorian architecture and restoration, and uses his skills to construct an unlikely, subtext-ridden conflict—over the possibility of restoration to some original state of grace—that is wholly involving from start to finish. (Feb.)
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Review

'As intelligent, daring and profound as it is highly, bewitchingly readable... a fantastically tightly written, read-every-word novel' - Julie Myerson, Guardian; Jem Poster has written an exciting and evocative first novel, powerfully conceived and eloquently expressed - it establishes him as a major new talent.' - Julia Briggs; 'One of the best first novels l've read for a long time... Poster mixes together the familiar ingredients with a subtlety that is rare in contemporary writing.' - Ron Butlin, Sunday Herald; 'Jem Poster writes beautifully, with rustic setting and period circumstances vividly described... absorbing' - Jessica Mann, Sunday Telegraph; 'Highly engaging... It's rare to find a book with such spinetingling opening lines, and such a quietly appalling closing one.' - Metro --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (February 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590200322
• ISBN-13: 978-1590200322
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,207,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange, evocative, but unfinished, May 7, 2008

By 

A lover of history and literature "A reader" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courting Shadows (Hardcover)

This novel about an early Victorian architect remodeling an ancient village church was hard to get away from, taking just three sittings to finish. But that anticipated finish felt more like a drifting off point than a finale. I'm still puzzling over the author's choice of ending it how and where he did. Sequel teasing?

The major characters were strongly and individually drawn; the protagonist John Stannard was nearly unbearably obnoxious with a stiff, self-obsessed and class-bound personality, yet was tolerable by a small core of genuine vulnerability - he yearned, dreamed, was capable of change. Well, a little change.

The most interesting character, and a perfect counterpoint to the cold Stannard, was Mr. Banks, the parish curate who was so richly thoughtful and god-like in his understanding of human nature that I had to re-read several passages of his mental meanderings to appreciate them fully.

Ann, the beautiful country girl Stannard encounters was opaque and strange though, and while the reasons for this unfold with the story, she was unable to open any emotional doors for this reader and actually seemed to grow more distorted by the end. And what really happened during their last encounter?

Sadly, it's not unusual to meet these unformed, or badly formed women in fiction written by men. What someone like Jem Poster needs is a female colloborator in the creation of his female characters. Just hoping.

And that ending. Not to spoil anything, but it was abrupt, weird and unsatisfying, like a song that forgot why it was singing. Perhaps there's a message in there somewhere but was lost on this no doubt obtuse reader. Sequel?

Good first job though and I will definitely pick up Mr. Poster's next work. He's a class A+ thinker and writer, and "Courting Shadows" was worth the read just for the pleasure of meeting Mr. Banks and frowning over Stannard.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, February 19, 2008

By 

Carol Madsen (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courting Shadows (Hardcover)

This novel has to have the most compelling opening sequence ever. I read it with the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I meant to put it down after ten minutes; two hours later I was still reading. Apparently Courting Shadows is Jem Poster's first novel, but it's hard to believe - it's so assured and dextrous. Characterisation, sense of place, atmosphere, pace, are all handled brilliantly. That the story is so engrossing is remarkable considering its narrator is creepy, unlikeable, and distinctly unreliable. Stannard, an architect, is restoring an old church in a remote location. Digging under an old wall, the workmen he employs hit a coffin - lead-lined. What follows in not a murder mystery, nor love story, nor historical novel, nor even exactly a gothic novel, though it has elements of all of them. It's an intelligent but thrilling literary novel. Read it, and enjoy reading between Stannard's self-absorbed and delusional lines. John Fowles crossed with Ford Madox Ford.