Daniel O'Thunder
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4.3 • 16 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Library Journal Best Books 2011: Historical Fiction selection
Finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize
Finalist for the Canadian Authors Association Fiction Award
Finalist for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award
Finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
1851. London, England. Once a well-known prize-fighter with a terrifying right fist (known as “The Hammer of Heaven”), Daniel O’Thunder has seen the light, and now the protection of the poor and the weak is his life’s work. He runs an establishment for those in need of food, shelter and counsel—a place where virtue and vice rub shoulders uneasily. But an ancient evil is stalking the streets, preying on the vulnerable souls it finds there. It is an evil that takes different forms and hides behind many faces, threatening everything Daniel loves most. Driven to desperation, Daniel responds by issuing a breathtaking challenge…to the Devil himself. Rich in humor and memorable characters, Daniel O’Thunder is a rollicking literary thriller set in the teeming slums of Dickensian London. Fast-paced and gripping, comic and tragic by turns, it is a spectacular fiction debut.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this delicious jumble of a novel, Weir has created an epic hero in the person of Daniel O'Thunder, a pugilist-evangelist on a mission to challenge the Devil to a boxing match right there in Queen Victoria's London. Believing that he must defeat this last and greatest foe, the aging Irishman prepares to fight his way from his dark past to salvation with a righteous right hook. The story lurches from narrator to narrator, including Nell, the clever whore; Jaunty, the devious trainer; Piper, the reporter; and the mysterious Jack, compiler of the story and perhaps traitor. These unreliable witnesses recount Daniel's comeback in the ring and his growing and catastrophic influence among the downtrodden of London's gin-soaked backstreets, and also, not inconsequentially, their encounters with Lord Sculthorpe, the curious aristocrat who underwrites Daniel's boxing matches but bets against him, keeps Nell in luxury for a time, and is evil incarnate, or so we are led to believe. Drenched in filthy Thames waters and coiffed in muttonchops, Weir's outlandish tale is a top-shelf page-turner, with commentary on the fickle role of the writer thrown into the whole glorious, fractured mess.
Customer Reviews
Daniel O'Thunder
A marvelous, marvelous novel. Highly recommended.