The End of the AlphabetThe End of the Alphabet
Title rated 3.65 out of 5 stars, based on 82 ratings(82 ratings)
Book, 2007
Current format, Book, 2007, , All copies in use.Book, 2007
Current format, Book, 2007, , All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formatsA literary debut that explores love in all its guises -- passionate, impulsive, affectionate, impatient -- and ultimately asks "how do we face the loss of all we love best?" A Note from the Author On or about his fiftieth birthday, Ambrose Zephyr failed his annual medical exam. An illness of inexplicable origin with neither known nor foreseeable cure was discovered. It would kill him within the month. In early drafts, those lines began The Grand Tour of Ambrose Zephyr. I thought it a good start. Not quite what-happens-when-one-wins-the-lottery, but the fiction as I had imagined it. A friend read one of those drafts. Her only criticism (bless her) concerned the mysterious illness. What was this ailment . . . exactly? The reader, she said, wants details. So too the author. But in the matter ofThe Grand Tour of Ambrose Zephyr, I was intrigued by other nuances: of life, of love, and of how far each would go, indeed could go, to sustain the other. And the illness? Bubonic plague? Black water fever? The reader decides. The point is Ambrose Zephyr gets it and this novel is about what happens next. It is as simple as that. "Ambrose Zephyr was married to Zappora Ashkenazi, a woman as comfortable in her own skin as anyone else. She had kept her name for the apparent reasons, would have preferred to have been born a Frenchwoman, suffered fools with grace and a smile, loathed insects. She had decorated the Victorian terrace in tastefully Swedish DIY, updating as budget and wear dictated. She was resigned to the likelihood that a pied-à-terre in the sixth arrondissement might not be in her future. She was content with that. She wore the best labels she could afford and knew the mysteries that moved a £500 ensemble to the £50 rack. Red and black and white were her 'colours.' Accessorizing she considered well worth the effort and her earrings were almost always perfect with that outfit. She owned one pair of stiletto shoes that hurt just to look at. But Ambrose liked them. Which was enough." --FromThe Grand Tour of Ambrose Zephyr
Title availability
About
Details
Publication
- [Canada] : Doubleday, [2007], ©2007
Opinion
More from the community
Community lists featuring this title
There are no community lists featuring this title
Community contributions
Community quotations are the opinions of contributing users. These quotations do not represent the opinions of the Edmonton Public Library.
There are no quotations from this title
Community quotations are the opinions of contributing users. These quotations do not represent the opinions of the Edmonton Public Library.
There are no quotations from this title
From the community