James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction (nominee)
Orange Prize for Fiction (nominee)
Through her, we're drawn into the villagers' lives, loves and deaths: the woman who sees devils; Sally, aged 14, pregnant and married to the man who finds the beached mermaid; the shoemaker and his wife, whose passion sparks the moment they meet, and endures beyond death; the priest and the leper.
Following a series of events that seem extraordinary to the modern eye, but unexceptional to the villagers--miraculous cures, a monstrous birth, the mermaid's brief appearance-- a small party sets out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Julia Blackburn--whose previous novel The Book of Colour was shortlisted for the Orange Prize--weaves her intricate four-dimensional tapestry from the simplest of threads. Her lucid and absorbing tale highlights both the otherness and the warm familiarity of the past, and unfolds the processes of grief and recuperation to show how life can grow out of loss. --Lisa Gee
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
| Title: The Leper's Companions: A novel Author(s):: Julia Blackburn ISBN: 0679439846 / 9780679439844 (USA edition) Publisher: Pantheon Availability: Amazon Amazon CA Amazon UK |
| Title: The Leper's Companions Author(s):: Julia Blackburn ISBN: 022405127X / 9780224051279 (UK edition) Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd Availability: Amazon UK Amazon Amazon CA |
Paperback Editions
| Title: The Leper's Companions: A Novel Author(s):: Julia Blackburn ISBN: 0679758380 / 9780679758389 (USA edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon CA Amazon UK |
| Title: The Leper's Companions Author(s):: Julia Blackburn ISBN: 0099272768 / 9780099272762 (UK edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA |
Kindle Editions
| Title: The Leper's Companions: A Novel (Vintage International) Author(s):: Julia Blackburn ISBN: B009C70F8E Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon |
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