Galilee [Hardcover]

Clive Barker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 1998

Clive Barker (more than 3.52 million copies of his books in print) returns to raise hell once again on bestseller lists from coast to coast with Galilee -- a frightful tale of two affluent American families and the dark forces that surround them.

Amy Pallenberg Never Dreamed That She Would Ever Meet -- let alone marry -- Mitchell Geary, the most eligible bachelor in America. As wealthy as the Rockefellers and as glamorous as the Kennedys, his family has been a powerful American presence since the Civil War. But behind this facade, the family hides some sinister secrets, and as Amy begins to unravel them, her life soon becomes stranger than she ever dreamed.

The Gearys are at war with the Barbarossas -- a clan whose origins lie in myth, and whose far-reaching influences are felt not in Washington or on Wall Street, but in the deep, sensual exchanges of flesh and soul. And when Galilee Barbarossa and Amy unexpectedly fall in love, the hostilities the two families have kept in check for generations finally erupt in all their unholy glory.

As groundbreaking and influential as his international bestsellers Everville and Imajica, and as spine-tingling as his wildly successful Hellraiser series, Galilee is Clive Barker's darkest and most sophisticated novel to date.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Over many years and many books, Clive Barker has earned a reputation as the thinking person's horror writer. His novels have mixed fantasy, psychology, and sheer creepiness in almost equal quantities, and while the gore quotient remains relatively low, the tension always runs high. In Galilee, however, Barker soft-pedals the ghoulish in favor of the gothic. His novel (or as the author would have it, "romance") tells the tale of two warring families caught up in a disastrous web of corruption, illicit sexuality, and star-crossed love, with a soupçon of the supernatural thrown in as well. On one side are the wealthy Gearys--a fictional stand-in for the Kennedys--and on the other are the Barbarossas, a mysterious black clan that has been around since the time (quite literally) of Adam. Galilee chronicles the twisted course of this centuries-old family feud, which centers around the magical Barbarossa matriarch Cesaria and her son Galilee. Indeed, it's the latter figure--one part Heathcliff to one part Christ--whose relationship with the Geary women sets a match to the entire powder keg of hostility and resentment. Mixing standard clichés of romance with his own peculiarly deep-fried version of the Southern gothic, Baker has come up with an intelligent and shamelessly amusing potboiler.

From Publishers Weekly

A family saga isn't what we'd expect from Barker (Sacrament), the most ambitious dark fantasist of our time, but that's what he delivers in his most elegant, and most conventional, novel yet. A Barker family saga is perforce unlike othersAand so not only are two entwined families chronicled here but one, the Barbarossas, descends from voracious divinities, "two souls as old as heaven"; the other, the Gearys, are modeled roughly on the Kennedys. The story, an intricate mosaic of first-person and third, is narrated by the reclusive Maddox Barbarossa as a history he writes in the family manse hidden in the Virginia woods and designed long ago by Thomas Jefferson, one of his divine stepmother's countless lovers. Its canvas stretches from New York to Hawaii to the Middle East, from the "ancient day" when Maddox's half-brother, Galilee, was baptized through the American Civil WarAduring which Galilee joins forces with the impoverished Southern founder of the Geary dynasty, whose cruelty and greed ensures the Gearys' immense wealth and power. Most of the story rests in the present, however, concentrating on the newest Geary, n?e Rachel Pallenberg, who marries a callow Geary scion only to witness the outbreak of "war" between the Gearys and Barbarossas and to become the latest Geary woman to fall under the spell of the near-immortal, sexually mesmerizing Galilee. The novel's scale is smaller than that of previous Barker effortsAmissing are the titanic battles of form vs. chaos, good vs. evil, the riot of wonders and terrors. But it's less cluttered, too, despite abundant inspiration and invention and satisfying smatterings of Barker-brand sex, scatology and violence. Above all, there is a new richness of character, of its warpings and transfigurations by hatred and love, blood legacy and death. $150,000 ad/promo; simultaneous HarperAudio; author tour; U.K., translation, dramatic rights: Clive Barker.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (May 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060179473
• ISBN-13: 978-0060179472
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (128 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,427,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clive Barker was born in Liverpool in 1952. He is the worldwide bestselling author of the Books of Blood, and numerous novels including Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, Sacrament and Galilee. In addition to his work as a novelist and short story writer he also illustrates, writes, directs and produces for the stage and screen. His films include Hellraiser, Hellbound, Nightbreed and Candyman. Clive lives in Beverly Hills, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like a dream, January 20, 2000

By 

Travis Huffman (Erlanger, Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galilee (Hardcover)

I am a huge fan of Clive Barkers work and have read a large part of his collection. After reading Galilee, it is easily one fo my favorites. Once you begin to read, you immediately become immersed in the lives of the novel's narrator and those characters that he chronicals. The novel involves two families; The Gearys and the Barbarossas. They have been in contempt of each other for over one hundred and fifty years. The Barbarossas are an ancient clan who's mother and father originated with the creation of Earth and have the ability to seemingly live forever. The Geary's are a dynasty of American royalty that came into power following the civil war. Their lives are then intertwined by one person; Galilee Barbarossa. The book is lavish in its detail of sex and violence. Once you pick it up, it will be hard to put down. It seems that in no portion of this novel that it drags on. This is a must read for fans of history, intrigue, romance, and the inside lives of the rich and powerful.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Barbara lives on, July 29, 2000

By 

Michelle Vigar (Sliema, Malta (Southern Europe)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galilee (Hardcover)

I read Imajica (both volumes) last year, and I must say I was gobsmacked by the sheer brilliance of Barker's narrative and imagination. So I started reading Barker's Galilee with relish, expecting an intriguing and fascinating tale of mysterious gods and goddesses, etc. But, woh! After some 200 hundred pages, it felt like I was fourteen again, reading my daily Mills & Boon paperback! I mean, the Rachel character was just soooo predictable and how on earth did Galilee decide she must be the one and only after sooo many (women...and men...and children...)? Nope, your standard Barbara Cartland yarn here: from rags to riches lass finds out her handsome John John Kennedy look-alike husband has somehow turned into a monster, but fortunately is bedded by the super-endowed Galilee who whisks her off (eventually...) to his "kingdom". Boring....and Barker must definitely have a sequel in mind.....

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, September 10, 2001

By 

Richard Williams (Worcester, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galilee (Mass Market Paperback)

I have always seen Clive Barker novels sitting alongside novels by Anne Rice and Stephen King at airport bookshops and, as such, have been relatively disinclined to spend my cash and time reading them.

However, during a stop at London's Gatwick airport I was thumbing through the usual selection of Turow, Grisham, and Crichton when I noticed this book sitting out of place next to the aforementioned.

Picking it up, I was first impressed by the size of the book. "Alas", I thought, "This must be some tale". Turning the book over, I read the covernotes and was instantly drawn to the concept of these two warring families. A hinting towards the supernatural intrigued me and I realized that, upon reading this epic, I may not find myself swallowed into some goreish nightmare.

I put the book down and bought a Grisham novel.

A few weeks later, I was back at Gatwick airport and with the repulsive thought of another 6 hours air time ahead of me, I sauntered back into the bookstore. My mental association sprung into action and I picked up Galilee and walked straight for the counter.

Before the aircraft doors had been closed, I had already started reading the tale of the Gearys and the Barbarossas and soon found myself completely immersed in the world that was being weaved around me.

It is plain to see the value of writing a story from a fictional storytellers persepective. With a novel of this size and complexity, it is refreshing for the reader to be taken back into the home of the fictional writer and listen to his ramblings which, as well as being highly entertaining, contain some very significant plot markers.

However, the bulk of the story revolves around the potential battle between the Gearys and the Barbarossas. These two families of who I will say little are linked. This link is obvious from the start but it's nature is not revealed until much much later in the story.

The story is told with so much depth and conviction that I was left wondering why I had never seen the Gearys in the newspapers! Lightly peppered with grotesque eroticism and supernatural violence, this is a story that held me from the first page to the last.

*** Spoilers Ahead ****

As the story ends, I was only slightly disappointed that the violent viscious clash between these two families never emereged and that the promised downfall of the Barbarossa's home L'Enfant never materialized.

My suspicions of a potential sequel have been confirmed on reading Mr. Barkers notes on this novel.