As the First World War rages on, the daily life of a small town near the front is hardly disturbed by the report of artillery fire and the parade of wounded in its streets. But within the space of a year, this illusion of ordinary days is shattered by the deaths of three innocents—a charming schoolmistress from “the north,” who captured every male heart only to take her own life without apparent reason; an angelic eight-year-old girl, who is strangled, her body abandoned by the canal; and the cherished wife of the local policeman, who dies in labor while her husband is hunting the little girl's murderer.
Twenty years on, the policeman still struggles to make sense of these mysteries that both torment and sustain him. In the pages of his notebooks he continually—desperately, obsessively—summons up the past and its ghosts. But excavating the town's secret history will bring neither peace to him nor justice to the wicked. And as his solitary detective work continues on these long-closed cases, we come to see that his efforts can lead only to an unimaginable widening of the tragedy.
In the policeman's simple, plangent voice--full of unflinching scrutiny and the compassion of weary experience--Philippe Claudel gives us a tale of galvanizing suspense and an indelible meditation on morality.
Twenty years on, the policeman still struggles to make sense of these mysteries that both torment and sustain him. In the pages of his notebooks he continually—desperately, obsessively—summons up the past and its ghosts. But excavating the town's secret history will bring neither peace to him nor justice to the wicked. And as his solitary detective work continues on these long-closed cases, we come to see that his efforts can lead only to an unimaginable widening of the tragedy.
In the policeman's simple, plangent voice--full of unflinching scrutiny and the compassion of weary experience--Philippe Claudel gives us a tale of galvanizing suspense and an indelible meditation on morality.
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Used availability for Philippe Claudel's By a Slow River
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
June 2006 : Hardback
| Title: By a Slow River Author(s): Philippe Claudel ISBN: 1-4000-4280-1 / 978-1-4000-4280-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Knopf Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Paperback Editions
June 2007 : Paperback
| Title: By a Slow River: A Novel Author(s): Philippe Claudel ISBN: 1-4000-7801-6 / 978-1-4000-7801-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Anchor Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
2006 : Paperback
| Title: By a Slow River Author(s): Philippe Claudel Publisher: Anchor Books Availability: Amazon More details... |
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