Title: The Meaning of Night
Author: Michael Cox
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 2007
Genre: Gothic Victorian
Pages: 703
Source: Purchased from Amazon
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Resonant with echoes of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, Cox's richly imagined thriller features an unreliable narrator, Edward Glyver, who opens his chilling "confession" with a cold-blooded account of an anonymous murder that he commits one night on the streets of 1854 London. That killing is mere training for his planned assassination of Phoebus Daunt, an acquaintance Glyver blames for virtually every downturn in his life. Glyver feels Daunt's insidious influence in everything from his humiliating expulsion from school to his dismal career as a law firm factotum. The narrative ultimately centers on the monomaniacal Glyver's discovery of a usurped inheritance that should have been his birthright, the byzantine particulars of which are drawing him into a final, fatal confrontation with Daunt. Cox's tale abounds with startling surprises that are made credible by its scrupulously researched background and details of everyday Victorian life. Its exemplary blend of intrigue, history and romance mark a stand-out literary debut. Cox is also the author of M.R. James, a biography of the classic ghost-story writer.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
My Review:
Wow! This is THE Best Book I have read in a long time, possibly one of the Best of this genre I will ever read! I will even go beyond what others are saying in comparing him to Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, etc., and say that in many ways he is Better!
This is Edward Glyver's story, or rather it is Edward Glyver aka Edward Glapthorn's story and it is told by him. It starts out with him commiting a murder and the excitement just builds from there. Edward Glyver believes his birthright has been stolen and he is obssessed with regaining it. There is almost nothing he will not do to get one step closer to his claim. Even though Edward has a dark spot in his character, your heart will still go out to him. He has been ecieved by almost everyone he ever loved. Everytime he finds happiness, he seems to be struck down. The things this gentleman edures is enough to drive anyone mad. Even though he is full of revenge and teeter tottering on the brink of madness, he has a good, kind heart in his chest. He has just enough goodness within him to cause you to fall in love with him Edward is truly a man after my heart. He is a bibliophile, and a photographer. I love old photography and I loved reading about his photographic endeavors. I also loved the history in this story. It is full of it, and anything that needs more explaining is included in a footnote.
I was sad to finish this book, because I wanted more! But, guess what! He has a sequel and the name of it is The Glass of Time, which I am now devouring.
Quotes from the Book:
"AFTER KILLING THE RED-HAIRED MAN, I TOOK MYSELF OFF TO QUINN'S for an oyster supper. It had been suprisingly-almost laughably-easy."
"The first word I ever heard used to describe myself was: resourceful."
Sadly, I just found that Michael Cox died in March of 2009. It is a shame that we will not have any new material from him. But, thank goodness he finished these two books. I think The Meaning of Night was a fufillment of a life long dream. When he found out that he was ill, he decided to to write the book he had always wantd to write.
I was sad to finish this book, because I wanted more! But, guess what! He has a sequel and the name of it is The Glass of Time, which I am now devouring.
Quotes from the Book:
"AFTER KILLING THE RED-HAIRED MAN, I TOOK MYSELF OFF TO QUINN'S for an oyster supper. It had been suprisingly-almost laughably-easy."
"The first word I ever heard used to describe myself was: resourceful."
Sadly, I just found that Michael Cox died in March of 2009. It is a shame that we will not have any new material from him. But, thank goodness he finished these two books. I think The Meaning of Night was a fufillment of a life long dream. When he found out that he was ill, he decided to to write the book he had always wantd to write.
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