Book description
It is April 1945, and the historic town of Lohenfelde is about to be
overrun by the Allied Third Army. Huddled in the vaults of the
Kaiser-Wilhelm Museum are Heinrich Hoffer and his three colleagues.
Their petty rivalries and resentments surface quickly in this
claustrophobic confinement as the four prepare themselves for their
fate.
Above the ground, picking through the rubble, is Corporal Neal
Parry, who wishes he was back in West Virginia studying art. When he
finds an exquisite painting in what remains of the museum vaults, he
is immediately reconnected with a lost world of beauty and order. It
is this small 18th-century oil that is the poignant link between the
young American soldier and the four charred corpses he finds at the
same time. As the narratives interweave, the story of the painting
reveals the hidden story of Herr Hoffer and his three associates - and
in doing so uncovers other, darker mysteries.
Adam Thorpe was born in Paris in 1956. His first novel,
Ulverton
, was published in 1992, and he has written nine others - most recently
Flight
- two collections of stories and five books of poetry. His new
translation of
Madame Bovary
has just been published by Vintage. He lives in France with his wife
and family.
