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• Author Interview –– August 8, 2008

An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time

The narrator of THE GARGOYLE is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide --- for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.

A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life --- and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete --- and her time on earth will be finished.

Already an international literary sensation, THE GARGOYLE is an INFERNO for our time. It will have you believing in the impossible.

THE GARGOYLE © Copyright 2009 by Andrew Davidson. Reprinted with permission by Doubleday. All rights reserved.

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Critical Praise

"Once launched into this intense tale of unconventional romance, few readers will want to put it down."

––– Publishers Weekly (Starred)

"Storytelling at its finest, featuring a lively assortment of characters and events that combine in a gripping drama that will keep readers’ attention through the very last page."

––– Library Journal

"A romance spanning centuries and continents finds a grotesque narrator redeemed by the love of a woman who claims they first met seven centuries earlier, in this deliriously ambitious debut novel. This spellbinding narrative [is] a credit to the craftsmanship of the Canadian writer…"

––– Kirkus Reviews (Starred)

"I was blown away by Andrew Davidson's THE GARGOYLE. It reminded me of LIFE OF PI, with its unanswered (and unanswerable) contradictions. A hypnotic, horrifying, astonishing novel that manages, against all odds, to be redemptive."

––– Sara Gruen, author of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS

"THE GARGOYLE is purely and simply an amazement, a riot, a blast. It's hard to believe that this is Andrew Davidson's first novel: He barrels out of the chute with the narrative brio and confidence, not to mention the courage, of a seasoned master. This book plucks the reader off the ground and whirls her through the air until she shouts from sheer abandonment and joy. What a great, grand treat."

––– Peter Straub

"Who would have thought that a drug-addled misanthropic porn star could make for a narrative guide that rivals Dante's Virgil? It is rare to read a book that is at once intelligent, literary, hilarious and touching without being cliché or just plain cheesy. I can't wait until August so I can start sending new readers on this remarkable journey."

––– Jamil Zaidi, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA

"Impossible to describe, this unforgettable story will make you question whether anyone should survive a terrible wreck, the kind that nearly burns you alive. As the patient reveals in searing detail his treatment, his life becomes linked to a young sculptress of gargoyles, whose story is in turn rooted in medieval Germany, the order of the Beguines, and translations of Dante's INFERNO... It's a testament to Davidson's skills that he is able to make something so truly page-turning out of such a mix, one so gripping that once into the narrative, the reader can't let go."

––– Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ

"How do you describe the undescribable or classify the unclassifiable? That is the conundrum of Andrew Davidson's THE GARGOYLE. He has transcended time, genre, and at times even language. His beautiful and irreverent debut novel of the power of love and the redemption that is possible is burned into the reader's brain with the ferocity of hellfire."

––– Katie Glasgow, Mitchell Books, Fort Wayne, IN

"Like Diana Gabaldon, Andrew Davidson immerses you in a different reality and takes you on a roller-coaster ride. This is an unusual story about the power of love to transcend physical limitations and to transform ugliness into beauty. It's all in the eyes of the beholder, as we are often told. This book makes you believe that simple truth."

––– Miriam Sontz, Powells, Portland, OR

"Combine Boogie Nights, THE ENGLISH PATIENT and THE HISTORIAN and you have THE GARGOYLE and more! A book that drew me in so completely that I never wanted it to end. The possibilities of where the stories in the book could take you seemed endless, yet the healing power of pain, love and story was what sucked me in from page one. Marianne Engel has to be one of my all time favorite characters: complex, brilliant, mysterious, yet vulnerable. Gargoyles will never look the same to me again! This is a read that will stay with me for a long good while."

––– Becky Anderson, Anderson's Bookshops, Naperville, Illinois

" THE GARGOYLE is addictive! Andrew Davidson has pulled off a magical feat. Our staff is mesmerized by this tale. We're talking to all our colleagues about it. We think it's going to be the sensation of the fall."

––– Elaine Petrocelli, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

"A love that spans a lifetime-or two-and centuries, THE GARGOYLE by Andrew Davidson is a book that begs to be placed in the hands of readers. The slow and painful recovery of the narrator's burns from his automobile accident is mirrored by the slow and painful redemption and the revealing of his relationship with Marianne centuries earlier. Dante's INFERNO is the glue for this well-written, compelling debut novel."

––– Mary Gay Shipley, That Bookstore in Blytheville, Blytheville, AR

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