Devotion - Hardcover

Norman, Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618735410 ISBN 13: 9780618735419

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007

Synopsis

An eloquent study of love, hate, human relationships, and emotional upheaval examines the causes of a violent quarrel between David Kozel and his new father-in-law, William, a gentle man who cares for a Nova Scotia estate and its swans, as well as David's new wife Maggie's belief that David has been unfaithful to her on their honeymoon. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

In the same calm, revelatory manner in which he wrote The Bird Artist, Howard Norman begins Devotion by telling of an event and then moving forward and backward from it. On August 19, 1985, the day that David Kozol and Margaret Field return to London from their honeymoon, David and his father-in-law, William Field, are involved in a fracas that leaves Field in the hospital. Not until almost the end of the book do we find out the cause.

David's life began heading toward that moment when he first laid eyes on Margaret, traveling as a publicist with an orchestral ensemble, and fell instantly in love with her. They are married in a few months. David wants to write a book about his mentor, Josef Sudek, a Czech genius, and Margaret enjoys traveling with the orchestra, checking in daily with her father, who tends an estate in Nova Scotia owned by a Jewish couple, Stefania and Isador Tecosky, and the wounded swans who live there. After William is hurt, David takes over his estate duties but Margaret refuses to see him.

Norman brings these people and their disparate realities together by showing the real devotion that binds them to each other and to the swans. William and Margaret enjoy a strong filial bond, the Tecoskys are devoted to William and Margaret, and the swans provide the perfect metaphor for all the relationships: they have had their wings clipped so they cannot fly--and they mate for life. Norman is a born naturalist with an immense love for Nova Scotia, birds, and landscape combined with a towering literary capability to bring them all together in a quirky, interesting story. Valerie Ryan

About the Author:

\Howard Norman has been nominated twice for the National Book Award and has received the Lannan Award for fiction, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Whiting Award. He is the author of five previous novels, including The Bird Artist and The Northern Lights, two memoirs, and many books for children.
He lives in Washington, D.C., and Vermont with his wife and daughter.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0618735410
• ISBN 13: 9780618735419
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 190