BOOK DETAILS
Trade paper ISBN-13: 978-1939140951 List Price: $17.99 U.S. Pages: 168 Published: 2014 |
Harmonica's Bridegroom (1984)
Paul Binding With a new introduction by the author Book Description
Dan Varney, in Madrid for a conference, goes in search of a night of adventure to help take his mind off the terrible events of one year earlier, when an act of betrayal left his father dead and his beloved brother James in an institution. The unexpected sound of a harmonica playing one of James’s favourite tunes draws Dan to Kevin, a handsome English youth with a dark secret and a connection to Dan’s own past. Dan and Kevin feel not only attraction but sympathy, but when Dan learns of Kevin’s role in the mysterious tragedy that struck the Varney family, could any kind of relationship survive? This new edition of Paul Binding’s critically acclaimed first novel Harmonica’s Bridegroom coincides with the 30th anniversary of its original publication and features a new afterword by the author. |
reviews
‘A disturbing, dark novel and an auspicious debut.’ – Brian Moore
‘The obsessive love of one brother for another makes absorbing reading. The picture of the selfish cold father is very convincing, I found the unwitting betrayal of the father by the despised son most moving. There are fine descriptions throughout.’ – James Purdy
‘Extraordinarily tightly plotted, well – and in places, brilliantly – written, and concerned with issues of major human importance.’ – British Book News
‘A real talent for describing places, and an admirable restraint which gives his writing tautness. The book is fired by sincerity … the writing is admirable.’ – Books and Bookmen
‘A carefully husbanded talent with skill and sensitivity … drawn with arresting acidity … vividly evoked.’ – Jonathan Keates, Observer
‘The obsessive love of one brother for another makes absorbing reading. The picture of the selfish cold father is very convincing, I found the unwitting betrayal of the father by the despised son most moving. There are fine descriptions throughout.’ – James Purdy
‘Extraordinarily tightly plotted, well – and in places, brilliantly – written, and concerned with issues of major human importance.’ – British Book News
‘A real talent for describing places, and an admirable restraint which gives his writing tautness. The book is fired by sincerity … the writing is admirable.’ – Books and Bookmen
‘A carefully husbanded talent with skill and sensitivity … drawn with arresting acidity … vividly evoked.’ – Jonathan Keates, Observer
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Paul Binding (b. 1943) is a novelist, critic, poet and cultural historian. After spending his early childhood in Germany, he returned to be educated in England and studied English Literature at Oxford. He has been a lecturer at universities in Sweden, Mississippi, and Italy and was a managing editor for Oxford University Press and an editor for the New Statesman. His first novel, Harmonica’s Bridegroom (1984), was well reviewed by critics and earned accolades from novelists James Purdy and Brian Moore. Other novels have included Kingfisher Weather (1989); My Cousin the Writer (2006), chosen as book of the year by Francis King and deemed a ‘masterpiece’ by the Spectator; and, most recently, the critically acclaimed After Brock (2012).
Besides his novels, Binding frequently contributes reviews to The Independent, The Times Literary Supplement, and others, and is the author of several non-fiction works, including Lorca: The Gay Imagination (1985), St. Martin’s Ride (1990) (a memoir), Eudora Welty: Portrait of a Writer (1994), and a study of the artist in Ibsen (2006).
For more than twenty years, Binding has been involved with the promotion of Scandinavian literature and culture. His latest work, Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness, is forthcoming from Yale University Press in April 2014. He lives in Shropshire.
Besides his novels, Binding frequently contributes reviews to The Independent, The Times Literary Supplement, and others, and is the author of several non-fiction works, including Lorca: The Gay Imagination (1985), St. Martin’s Ride (1990) (a memoir), Eudora Welty: Portrait of a Writer (1994), and a study of the artist in Ibsen (2006).
For more than twenty years, Binding has been involved with the promotion of Scandinavian literature and culture. His latest work, Hans Christian Andersen: European Witness, is forthcoming from Yale University Press in April 2014. He lives in Shropshire.