The Mathematics of Love: A Novel (P.S.) [Paperback]

Emma Darwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 2008 | Series: P.S.

The Mathematics of Love is a poignant chronicle of two people, separated by centuries, whose lives—amazingly, impossibly—become interwoven in a brilliant tapestry of tragedy, memory, and time. Following alternate but intimately connected stories—of a curious, promiscuous teenager in her season of exile and awakening in the English countryside in 1976, and a nineteenth-century soldier damaged on the fields of Waterloo, struggling to find his way back to life with the help of a compassionate, extraordinary woman—Emma Darwin's breathtaking narrative brilliantly evokes the horrors of war, the pain of loss, the heat of passion, and the enduring power of love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This debut novel from Charles Darwin's great-great-granddaughter combines fiction, history and family legacy. Having lost a leg at the Battle of Waterloo, Stephen Fairhurst, ensconced at Kersey Hall, is not surprised that Hetty Greenshaw rejects his marriage proposal. But he is caught off guard when he finds he can share his darkest thoughts with Hetty's independent, artistic sister, Lucy Durward, who is fascinated by early attempts at photography. When Lucy accompanies Hetty and Hetty's new husband to Europe, Stephen escorts them around the battlefield where he once fought. Alternating with Stephen and Lucy's tale is the story of 15-year-old Anna Ware, left at Kersey Hall with her Uncle Ray in 1976 while her mother vacations. Uncle Ray has just shut down Kersey Hall School and taken in Anna's grandmother, a cruel drunk. Anna befriends neighbors Eva and Theo, who introduce her to photography and teach her about love. Darwin describes art, photography and warfare in meticulous detail. A gifted observer and novice storyteller, she loses her narrative way focusing on secondary characters (Stephen's mistress, the neglected boy Cecil), but she finds it in Anna's voice, Stephen's story and her portrait of Lucy. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

As two first-person narrators alternately tell their stories, more than a century and a half apart, the tales intertwine. Major Stephen Fairhurst, who lost a leg and the woman he loved in the Napoleonic Wars, is managing his Lancashire estate, Kersey Hall, in 1819, when he meets Lucy Durward, a forthright artist impatient with the social conventions of her time. Fifteen-year-old Anna Ward is sent alone to Kersey Hall, a newly bankrupt school run by an uncle she never met, in 1976. Photographers Eva and Theo, who live together nearby, give Anna work, training, and friendship (which goes beyond the bounds with Theo). The two stories are linked by copies of Stephen's letters, which Anna receives from a friend of Eva and Theo's, and an old daguerreotype. The novel is slow to take off, with potential confusion about narrators early on and predictable tales of love later; and Fairhurst's account is the stronger of the two, with better-developed characters and more depth. Still, elements echoing between the two narrations add interest, and first novelist Darwin displays definite literary skills. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061140279
• ISBN-13: 978-0061140273
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,961,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Emma Darwin was brought up in London, with interludes in Manhattan and Brussels. Her childhood travelling often inspires the background of her fiction, as do other interests such as photography, horse riding and, of course, history. Emma's first novel, The Mathematics of Love, was nominated for, among others, the Commonwealth Writers and Goss First Novel awards, and so far has been translated into eight languages. It intertwines the stories of a veteran of Waterloo in 1819, and a disaffected teenager in 1976. "Hauntingly beautiful" - Washington Post Book World. "A book that works on every conceivable level" - The Times (London). Her new novel, A Secret Alchemy, re-imagines the world of the Princes in the Tower through the eyes and voices of their mother and uncle. "Breathtaking drama" - Publishers Weekly. "Sorcery... Spellbinding" - The Times (London). Emma is the great-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin and his wife Emma Wedgwood, but has no plans (at the moment) to write about them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book, February 1, 2009

By 

Laura de Leon (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mathematics of Love: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

I really liked reading this book. I enjoyed both of the timelines-- the teenager in the 1970s who has grown up a little too fast for her own good, coming to terms with her family past and future; and the ex-soldier in 1819, trying to build his future, but discovering he also must face his past before he can truly move on. I loved the ongoing ties between the timelines. It isn't a simple read, but I found it worthwhile.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and affecting, January 24, 2012

By 

Aelinn "A.S." - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mathematics of Love: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

I am impressed with this book. Main and supporting characters are all vividly portrayed, and the book is rich with their thoughts and emotions, but the book does not seem crowded. There are many themes explored... love, sex, society's rules, effects of war and people and places on one another... and it's all connected and explored across two time periods, but the book is not overly complicated or difficult to follow. And I'd like to respond to another reviewer who sounded offended by people who value propriety being called "old-fashioned."

I think it's worth noting that much grief is caused by various characters' choices. I do not see loose sex being glorified in this book. While I disapprove of several choices characters make, I can follow their thoughts and feelings enough to understand them. I do not feel that this author is trying to vilify me and other people with conservative values.

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing I Say Can Do Justice to This Tale, November 19, 2011

By 

Dormilona (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mathematics of Love: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

Emma Darwin's mastery of language in the service of both sense and sensibility leaves me so conscious of my own limitations that I'd never have attempted to review this book were it not for my dismay at some of the other reviews here. THE MATHEMATICS OF LOVE is intricate and spellbinding novel, beautifully written and finely detailed. It's a tumultuous and glorious emotional adventure.

Although I've spent years studying the Napoleonic Wars, particularly the war in Spain, Darwin's perspective makes that tragic, brutal terrain fresh and haunting. At first I resented the segues into the 1970s, but Darwin skillfully weaves them into the older story, and they soon become compelling in their own right. The leading characters (Major Fairhurst, Miss Durward, Katrijn, Anna, Theo, Eva, and Cecil) felt as vital and precious to me as if they actually inhabited my own world. The minor ones, too (the Stebbings, the Barracloughs, Mercedes, Penny, Susan, etc.), are wonderfully realized.

Darwin looks squarely at some of the greatest cruelties human beings can inflict on one another, yet somehow manages to infuse the reader with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the beauty of this world; for the wounded, brave souls who inhabit it; and for those who came before us. Thank you, Emma Darwin.