Salamander
Thomas Wharton
McClelland & Stewart
<p>Spellbinding, original, <i>Salamander</i> careens through a world of ideas and stories in which the transforming power of books, the thirst for knowledge, and the pursuit of immortality become erotic. It is also a universal story of love and obsession. Set in the eighteenth century, the narrative revolves around a world-spanning quest for the infinite book. Along the way the novel gathers stories that range from a Chinese tale of jealousy and lost love to the remarkable history of Alexandria's <i>other </i>great library and to epoch-making moments on the battlefields of colonial America. At the centre of the novel's unforgettable cast of characters is the London printer Nicholas Flood, a dedicated craftsman who is unprepared for all that awaits him when he accepts an unusual commission. Intricate, humane, infused with humour and pathos, <i>Salamander</i> is an exhilarating, elegantly crafted novel.<br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i></br></br></p>