Seahorse: A Novel - Hardcover

Petrie, Graham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569470774 ISBN 13: 9781569470770

Publisher: Soho Pr Inc, 1996

Synopsis

High on a cliff overlooking this remote fishing village stands the institute. Some of the villagers fear that its head, Dr. Daniels, is interfering with the nightly journey of their souls to the deserted island a mile off shore. At first the narrator, a visitor staying at the hotel, scoffs. But as his stay endures, he too, is involved in experiences he cannot explain. Even the villagers' cardgame, Seahorse, a game whose rules he cannot master, seems to presage future events, and yet, how can it?
The reason for the narrator's presence in the village is itself a mystery as he struggles to make sense of the world from the clues available, an unwilling participant in the life of a primitive and sinister community.

About this title

About the Author:

Graham Petrie has taught Film and English at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario since 1964.

From Library Journal:

Both of these dark novels are set in nameless foreign countries where things are not exactly as they seem and bizarre occurrences are the norm. First published in England in 1980, Seahorse, the author's first book, is the tale of a quest in the manner of Heart of Darkness in which the narrator arrives on foreign shores to investigate strange reports about "The Institute" and its head, Dr. Daniels. As the narrator waits to gain admittance, he passes time in the nearby village, where the townspeople play a card game called Seahorse whose arcane rules are never explained to him. The cards?depicting fantastic and grotesque scenes of wolflike dogs who attack people, children who walk on water, and mermaids basking on rocks?augur the surreal events that befall the narrator. In The Siege, an art historian returns with her lawyer husband to her war-torn native country to research the recent discovery of 400-year-old frescoes and journals attributed to Sister Margaret, a nun with heretical feminist leanings. Left to his own devices, her husband embarks on a nightmarish search of his own into acts of torture, both historic and contemporary. These well-told stories will appeal to readers with a taste for the macabre. Buy where demand warrants.?Barbara Love, Kingston P.L., Ontario
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Soho Pr Inc
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1569470774
• ISBN 13: 9781569470770
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 169