Dark doings in Paris in 1887 as engineer Gustave Eiffel supervises
construction of his Tower. French author Bleys's fourth novel,
winner of the Prix du Roman Historique, focuses initially on two
Eiffel employees: Parisian bon vivant Odilon Cheyne and ingenuous
provincial "hick" Armand Boissier. The two become devoted friends
(and are labeled "the twins") at work and at play-and Odilon leads
the starry-eyed Armand to a "spiritualist society" led by
clairvoyant Apolline Serafon (to whom Cheyne is secretly married).
Through these new friends Armand meets and falls for stunning young
actress Roseline Page. All seems bliss-until scheming American
engineer Gordon Hole, jealous of Eiffel's increasing celebrity and
sworn to ruin him, engages drug-addicted layabout Gaspard Louchon
as his henchman in a plot that also involves a lissome
ventriloquist named Salome. Roseline is kidnapped and her death
counterfeited, and the suggestible Armand is persuaded that Eiffel
had stolen (Roseline's father) Gordon Hole's conception-and that it
is Armand's duty to prevent the Tower's completion. An attempt on
the partially finished structure is abandoned when Armand
encounters a "luminous shape" that he interprets to be Roseline's
ghost. These not-unentertaining absurdities proliferate blithely,
reaching a climax somewhat delayed while Bleys laboriously displays
the fruits of his evidently exhaustive researches. The villainous
Gordon Hole (and what a pity it is Peter Sellers isn't around to
portray him), a Francophobe of gargantuan proportions, deviously
masters the art of French cooking, posing as a chef at the
Exhibition where the Tower will open to the public. And the cavalry
(consisting of "the twins" and their respective beloveds) arrives
just in whatever is the Gallic equivalent of the nick of time.
Bleys is clearly enjoying himself, and readers who don't take this
nonsense seriously may do the same. A fictional souffle: airy and
insubstantial, but really rather sweet. (Kirkus Reviews)
Paris 1888. Armand and Odilon are young apprentice draughtsmen
in the offices of Gustave Eiffel, working on what will be the
engineer's greatest invention and the city's most famous landmark.
The Eiffel Tower is the symbol of a new age, but in the exotic
gas-lit streets of Paris, strange beliefs, dark desires and
mysterious forces are loose. Soon Armand and Odilon find themselves
involved with a spiritualist society who hold seances in the Paris
Morgue, a card-reading clairvoyant, a female ventriloquist with a
shady secret and a spirited young actress. Behind them all are the
scheming machinations of Gordon Hole, an ambitious American
architect who has vowed to destroy the Eiffel Tower before it can
even be completed.
General
Imprint: |
Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
November 2003 |
First published: |
December 2003 |
Authors: |
Olivier Bleys
|
Dimensions: |
198 x 129 x 30mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
420 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-7145-3094-9 |
Subtitles: |
French
|
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-7145-3094-8 |
Barcode: |
9780714530949 |
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