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The Weight of Angels by John Boyne

$30.99

Imagine how legendary playwright, poet, and the master of the bon mot Oscar Wilde would have lived his life had he not been imprisoned, exiled from England, and died in his forties. John Boyne’s The Weight of Angels creates the possible life he could have led.

When the Marquis of Queensbury left his calling card at the Albemarle Club in February 1895, it bore only his name and five words, “For Oscar Wilde, posing Sodomite.” The celebrated playwright rose to the challenge and sued for the insult, a fateful decision which led to imprisonment, disgrace, and ultimately an early death. But what if he hadn’t responded this way? What course would Wilde’s life have taken?

John Boyne’s magnificent new novel, The Weight of Angels, takes this fork in the road as a starting point and imagines what would have happened if Oscar were alive to bear witness to the momentous events of the first half of the twentieth century. How would his life have turned out, what might he have written, whom might he have met? Could the second half of his life have been as celebrated, dramatic, tumultuous, and exhilarating as the first?

In imagining the life that Oscar Wilde never had, John Boyne has written one of the great ‘what if’ stories of modern literature, giving the great Irish poet and playwright a fresh new voice and the opportunity to take an entirely different path through a world which was to change beyond recognition in a few short decades.

For the next fifty-plus years, he will experience triumph and tragedy, pleasure and pain, love and regret, all while witnessing the twentieth century unfold around him in this mesmerizing novel.

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Specs:
592 pages | Hardcover
9.6 in H | 6.7 in W | 1.7 in T | 1.8 lb Wt
ISBN: 9781250411365

Imagine how legendary playwright, poet, and the master of the bon mot Oscar Wilde would have lived his life had he not been imprisoned, exiled from England, and died in his forties. John Boyne’s The Weight of Angels creates the possible life he could have led.

When the Marquis of Queensbury left his calling card at the Albemarle Club in February 1895, it bore only his name and five words, “For Oscar Wilde, posing Sodomite.” The celebrated playwright rose to the challenge and sued for the insult, a fateful decision which led to imprisonment, disgrace, and ultimately an early death. But what if he hadn’t responded this way? What course would Wilde’s life have taken?

John Boyne’s magnificent new novel, The Weight of Angels, takes this fork in the road as a starting point and imagines what would have happened if Oscar were alive to bear witness to the momentous events of the first half of the twentieth century. How would his life have turned out, what might he have written, whom might he have met? Could the second half of his life have been as celebrated, dramatic, tumultuous, and exhilarating as the first?

In imagining the life that Oscar Wilde never had, John Boyne has written one of the great ‘what if’ stories of modern literature, giving the great Irish poet and playwright a fresh new voice and the opportunity to take an entirely different path through a world which was to change beyond recognition in a few short decades.

For the next fifty-plus years, he will experience triumph and tragedy, pleasure and pain, love and regret, all while witnessing the twentieth century unfold around him in this mesmerizing novel.

Prefer Audiobooks? Don’t worry, you can order the audiobook and still support my shop!
LIBRO.FM ORDER THIS BOOK NOW!

Specs:
592 pages | Hardcover
9.6 in H | 6.7 in W | 1.7 in T | 1.8 lb Wt
ISBN: 9781250411365

 

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"John Boyne's new novel exhaustively explores crime and its aftershocks with a deep sense of empathy.... The Elements earns its billing as an epic...Impactful and provocative."
—The New York Times on The Elements

John Boyne is the author of The Elements and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for film, theater, ballet, and opera. His many international bestsellers include The Heart's Invisible Furies, which was a Book of the Month Club Book of the Year, and A Ladder to the Sky. He has won four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year in 2022, along with a host of other international literary prizes. He lives in Dublin.

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