The Calligrapher
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
A gripping story of modern-day love and old-fashioned revenge. He is not quite as clever as he thinks he is. She is smarter than she seems.
Jasper thinks that he has found the perfect life. A world-class calligrapher and a serial seducer, he is happily transcribing the immortal songs and sonnets of John Donne for his wealthy patron. But when a shameless infidelity catches up with him, things begin to unravel. Worse still, one afternoon the perfect woman turns up beneath his studio window and he realises that he will have to abandon everything to win her.
Brilliantly written, stylish and very funny, ‘The Calligrapher’ is about the difference between men and women, about deception and honesty, and the timeless pursuit of love.
Reviews
‘Stylish, witty, cleverly written. A brilliant debut.’ Daily Mail
‘A harsh moral fable. An arresting debut and promise of more to come.’ Spectator
‘A wonderful novel…Achieves the rare feat of being bookish and sussed in the same breath.’ Matt Beaumont
‘Fascinating and very funny. Jasper Jackson is a fine creation.’ Niall Griffiths
About the author
Edward Docx is a prize-winning British writer. His first novel, The Calligrapher, was short-listed for both the William Saroyan prize and the Guilford Prize. The San Francisco Chronicle called it a best debut book of the year. This was followed by Pravda (2007, entitled Self Help in the UK), which was long-listed for the Man-Booker Prize (2007) and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (2007). His third novel was The Devil’s Garden (2011), now in production with Mandabach Productions. His latest novel Let Go My Hand was published in 2017.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It takes sangfroid and skill to write a contemporary love story featuring the metaphysical poetry of John Donne and the art of calligraphy, but British writer Docx, in his debut novel, carries it off with wit and sophistication. His protagonist, Jasper Jackson, is a Londoner whose current job is to transcribe the Songs and Sonnets of John Donne for a wealthy client. Like Donne, Jasper is also a relentless womanizer, a charming cad who lives for love affairs. When the woman of his dreams appears in his own garden, Jasper succumbs to real love for the first time and slowly begins to realize what it feels like to be the pursuer rather than the pursued. In a clever reversal of chick-lit roles, the lovely Madeleine, a travel journalist, plays the part of the rakes of yore, while Jasper pours his woes into the willing ear of his best friend. There are many contrasts here, between ancient art and contemporary manners, between ribald conversation and metaphysical elegance of expression, between the intellectual and the erotic. Docx prefaces each chapter with the sonnet Jasper is working on, and close reading reveals that the subject of each poem corresponds to Jasper's emotional state. Using sites in London, Rome and New York, he allows Jasper to fulminate about the meretricious standards of 21st-century culture (scenes in the Tate Modern are deliciously on target). Readers of conventional romantic comedy may find more to chew on here than they're expecting, but the double surprises that end the narrative are diabolically satisfying. Foreign rights sold in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden.
