Eclipse: A NovelIn this deeply moving and original book, John Banville alloys mystery, fable, and ghost story with poignant psychological acuity to forge the riveting story of a man wary of the future, plagued by the past, and so uncertain in the present that he cannot discern the spectral from the real. When renowned actor Alexander Cleave was a boy living in a large house with his widowed mother and various itinerant lodgers, he encountered a strikingly vivid ghost of his father. Now that he’s fifty and has returned to his boyhood home to recover from a nervous breakdown on stage, he is not surprised to find the place still haunted. He is surprised, however, at the presence of two new lodgers who have covertly settled into his old roost. And he is soon overwhelmed by how they, coupled with an onslaught of disturbing memories, compel him to confront the clutter that has become his life: ruined career, tenuous marriage, and troubled relationship with an estranged daughter destined for doom. |
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appeared arms asked Cass child close coming corner course dark door dream everything eyes face fall father feel felt front garden gave gaze girl give glass gone hair hall hand head hear heard holding inside kind kitchen knew laugh leaning leaving lifted light Lily living looked lost Lydia mean mind moment morning mother mouth moving never night noticed once passed past perhaps play present Quirke remember seemed sense shadow shoulder side sigh silence smell smile someone sort sound speak square stage standing step stood stopped strange summer sure tell things thought took touch trees trying turned voice waiting walked watching window woman wonder young