You can't keep a good man down . . . even when he's dead! When an American mother and ex-journalist is overwhelmed by her new Swiss home, a visitor pops out of nowhere offering to relieve her son's asthma, her husband's distracted absence and her problems grappling with village life. Is he the village crackpot or - as he claims - the Greatest Mind of the Eighteenth Century? This talkative character in kneebreeches and a powdered wig is the last straw. Though she begs him to disappear, he unpacks his moldy trunk and a lifetime of stories instead. Slowly "V." becomes her stalwart best friend as they laugh, bicker and he teaches her the best lesson of all: how to live life to its fullest.
Editorial Reviews
Review
--"In the tradition of the best self-help novels, Voltaire teaches her how to live a happy and full life," Nicholas Cronk, The Cambridge Guide to Voltaire, March 2009
--Voted second "Must Read" by UK library borrowers on World Book Day, after the winner, Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong, ahead of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, The Lovely Bones, the Bookseller of Kabul, My Sister's Keeper and the Sharpe books of Bernard Cornwell, April 2005.
--Definitely my book of the year."
Irene Double, librarian for Bradford Libraries, UK, Shelf Life
Nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction, 2004
--A mix of the real and surreal, a combination of fact and fiction and a hint of the American experiencing Switzerland, written in a straightforward and entertaining style is what makes Dinah Lee Küng such an interesting writer.-- Aradhna Sethi, Swiss News, Zurich, May 2004
--Voted second "Must Read" by UK library borrowers on World Book Day, after the winner, Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong, ahead of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, The Lovely Bones, the Bookseller of Kabul, My Sister's Keeper and the Sharpe books of Bernard Cornwell, April 2005.
--Definitely my book of the year."
Irene Double, librarian for Bradford Libraries, UK, Shelf Life
--Recommended Reading Group selection, UK, Hertfordshire Libraries
Nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction, 2004
--A mix of the real and surreal, a combination of fact and fiction and a hint of the American experiencing Switzerland, written in a straightforward and entertaining style is what makes Dinah Lee Küng such an interesting writer.-- Aradhna Sethi, Swiss News, Zurich, May 2004
About the Author
Dinah Lee Küng worked for twenty years as a journalist in Asia, notably China, for Business Week, The Economist, The International Herald Tribune, and The Washington Post.
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More About the Author
SEE ALSO SEPARATE AUTHOR PAGE FOR D.L. KUNG
( Contact Dinah at: infodinahleek@aol.com. and get more information at her website www.dinahleekung.com.
Küng has published six novels after twenty years of reporting from Asia, (primarily China and Hong Kong,) for newspapers and magazines, including the Economist, BusinessWeek, the International Herald Tribune and National Public Radio.
A social comedy, "Love and the Art of War", already available on Kindle will be published in paperback soon.
"A Visit From Voltaire" was nominated for the ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION in 2004. This is a quirky autobiographical comedy in which the phantom of Voltaire haunts her farmhouse as she tries to settle into life in Switzerland.
Her Geneva novel, "Under Their Skin", is a sophisticated love triangle story using the metaphor of surfaces, reflections, skin and scars, to examine what lies underneath appearances. The interplay between the captivating artistry of a birthmarked violinist, the precision and sterility of her doctor's laser clinic, and the determined workaholism of his childless wife at the World Health Organization in leprosy relief makes for an uncomfortable examination of conventional morality and the meaning of marriage.
Under the name D. L. Kung, the trilogy of "The Handover Mysteries" was re-issued in 2011 as e-books and are available in new paperback editions from Eyes and Ears Editionsr. They were voted in the "Top Ten Mysteries, Thrillers and Suspense of 2011" list by Goodreads voters.
Küng's signature in all her novels is an interweaving of East and West themes, placing domestic comedy or melodrama in a well-researched historical or political context. Her stories are informed by a Catholic upbringing and a sensitivity to cross-cultural tensions with an often sharp and mordant sense of humor.
"Love and the Art of War" returns readers to the light domestic tone of "A Visit From Voltaire"; in London's leafy NW1, a middle-aged librarian joins an evening class of bumbling businessmen to study the wiles of the ancient Chinese warlords, with the aim of reconquering, not the corner office, but the love of her life.
Küng did her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Asian/Chinese studies and maintains a lively interest in Asian affairs. She's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City and an active advocate for Chinese writers in detention through PEN Centre Suisse Romand. She is the wife of a retired delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the mother of three adult children.
( Contact Dinah at: infodinahleek@aol.com. and get more information at her website www.dinahleekung.com.
Küng has published six novels after twenty years of reporting from Asia, (primarily China and Hong Kong,) for newspapers and magazines, including the Economist, BusinessWeek, the International Herald Tribune and National Public Radio.
A social comedy, "Love and the Art of War", already available on Kindle will be published in paperback soon.
"A Visit From Voltaire" was nominated for the ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION in 2004. This is a quirky autobiographical comedy in which the phantom of Voltaire haunts her farmhouse as she tries to settle into life in Switzerland.
Her Geneva novel, "Under Their Skin", is a sophisticated love triangle story using the metaphor of surfaces, reflections, skin and scars, to examine what lies underneath appearances. The interplay between the captivating artistry of a birthmarked violinist, the precision and sterility of her doctor's laser clinic, and the determined workaholism of his childless wife at the World Health Organization in leprosy relief makes for an uncomfortable examination of conventional morality and the meaning of marriage.
Under the name D. L. Kung, the trilogy of "The Handover Mysteries" was re-issued in 2011 as e-books and are available in new paperback editions from Eyes and Ears Editionsr. They were voted in the "Top Ten Mysteries, Thrillers and Suspense of 2011" list by Goodreads voters.
Küng's signature in all her novels is an interweaving of East and West themes, placing domestic comedy or melodrama in a well-researched historical or political context. Her stories are informed by a Catholic upbringing and a sensitivity to cross-cultural tensions with an often sharp and mordant sense of humor.
"Love and the Art of War" returns readers to the light domestic tone of "A Visit From Voltaire"; in London's leafy NW1, a middle-aged librarian joins an evening class of bumbling businessmen to study the wiles of the ancient Chinese warlords, with the aim of reconquering, not the corner office, but the love of her life.
Küng did her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Asian/Chinese studies and maintains a lively interest in Asian affairs. She's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City and an active advocate for Chinese writers in detention through PEN Centre Suisse Romand. She is the wife of a retired delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the mother of three adult children.
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