Quartet for the End of Time: A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Quartet for the End of Time: A Novel by Johanna Skibsrud, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Johanna Skibsrud ISBN: 9780393245974
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: October 6, 2014
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Johanna Skibsrud
ISBN: 9780393245974
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: October 6, 2014
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

A “cinematic . . . page-turner and a compassionate analysis of faith, memory, responsibility, and consequence.”—Molly Antopol, Fiction Writers Review

Inspired by and structured around the chamber piece of the same title by the French composer Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time is a mesmerizing story of four lives irrevocably linked in a single act of betrayal. The novel takes us on an unforgettable journey beginning during the 1930s Bonus Army riots, when World War I veteran Arthur Sinclair is falsely accused of conspiracy and then disappears. His absence will haunt his son, Douglas, as well as Alden and Sutton Kelly, the children of a powerful U.S. congressman, as they experience—each in different ways—the dynamic political social changes that took place leading up to and during World War II.

From the New Deal projects through which Douglas, newly fatherless, makes his living to Sutton’s work as a journalist, to Alden’s life as a code breaker and a spy, each character is haunted by the past and is searching for love, hope, and redemption in a world torn apart by chaos and war. Through the lives of these characters, as well as those of their lovers, friends, and enemies, the novel transports us from the Siberian Expedition of World War I to the underground world of a Soviet spy in the 1920s and 1930s, to the occultist circle of P. D. Ouspensky and London during the Blitz, to the German prison camp where Messiaen originally composed and performed his famous Quartet for the End of Time.

At every turn, this rich and ambitious novel tells some of the less well-known stories of twentieth-century history with epic scope and astonishing power, revealing at every turn the ways in which history and memory tend to follow us, and in which absence has a palpable presence.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A “cinematic . . . page-turner and a compassionate analysis of faith, memory, responsibility, and consequence.”—Molly Antopol, Fiction Writers Review

Inspired by and structured around the chamber piece of the same title by the French composer Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time is a mesmerizing story of four lives irrevocably linked in a single act of betrayal. The novel takes us on an unforgettable journey beginning during the 1930s Bonus Army riots, when World War I veteran Arthur Sinclair is falsely accused of conspiracy and then disappears. His absence will haunt his son, Douglas, as well as Alden and Sutton Kelly, the children of a powerful U.S. congressman, as they experience—each in different ways—the dynamic political social changes that took place leading up to and during World War II.

From the New Deal projects through which Douglas, newly fatherless, makes his living to Sutton’s work as a journalist, to Alden’s life as a code breaker and a spy, each character is haunted by the past and is searching for love, hope, and redemption in a world torn apart by chaos and war. Through the lives of these characters, as well as those of their lovers, friends, and enemies, the novel transports us from the Siberian Expedition of World War I to the underground world of a Soviet spy in the 1920s and 1930s, to the occultist circle of P. D. Ouspensky and London during the Blitz, to the German prison camp where Messiaen originally composed and performed his famous Quartet for the End of Time.

At every turn, this rich and ambitious novel tells some of the less well-known stories of twentieth-century history with epic scope and astonishing power, revealing at every turn the ways in which history and memory tend to follow us, and in which absence has a palpable presence.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated) by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Mexican Hat: A Kevin Kerney Novel (Kevin Kerney Novels) by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected Works by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Very Good, Jeeves! by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book A Mayan Astronomer in Hell's Kitchen: Poems by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Late-Life Love: A Memoir by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book The Resurrectionist: A Novel by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Would You Eat Your Cat?: Key Ethical Conundrums and What They Tell You About Yourself by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book This Will Be Difficult to Explain: And Other Stories by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Eternity Street: Violence and Justice in Frontier Los Angeles by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too by Johanna Skibsrud
Cover of the book A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet by Johanna Skibsrud
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy