Publisher's Weekly
In prolific English novelist Elliott's evocative, chatty and God-haunted tale, Jerusalem is an ''eternal damnfool city'' where past, present and future co-exist. Madame Eugenia Muna runs a guest house with her adoring platonic bedmate, Fedor, an amnesiac whose cafe cronies include a rabbi and a minor imam given to apocalyptic prophecies that seem to acquire legitimacy from Scud missile attacks and intifada violence. Muna, whose psychic gifts enable her to witness biblical events, entertains two new guests: Daisy Herbert, a sexually inexperienced English tourist, and Thomas Curtis, who's retracing the 17th-century pilgrimage of a devout ancestor in order to decide if he should become a monk, but who eventually exchanges divine for secular love with Daisy. A witty subplot involves Anglican Reverend Morgan Pooley, custodian of a dubious alternative site for Christ's crucifixion and tomb. In beautifully nuanced prose, Elliott ( The Sadness of Witches ) crafts a quirky, affirmative story pulsating with the troubled soul of the Holy City.
BookList - Alice Joyce
Elliott's latest novel is set in Jerusalem in the midst of unremitting political and religious conflicts. Into this realm Elliott delivers indications of love to a wondrous group of eccentric characters whose lives weave together to form a labyrinth of connections. In the guest house of Eugenia Muna--the stopping point for survivors of frightening events such as airline hijackings, earthquakes, and kidnaping--concepts of time are turned topsy-turvy, and sexual awakening appears as a precious gift that this most unusual concierge may bestow upon unsuspecting visitors. Elliott's engaging and satisfying novel presents a magical, biblical environment in which Eugenia's enchanted spell can work its wonders--a fictional world where joyful unions occur in place of the dreaded apocalypse anticipated by many.
Genre: General Fiction
In prolific English novelist Elliott's evocative, chatty and God-haunted tale, Jerusalem is an ''eternal damnfool city'' where past, present and future co-exist. Madame Eugenia Muna runs a guest house with her adoring platonic bedmate, Fedor, an amnesiac whose cafe cronies include a rabbi and a minor imam given to apocalyptic prophecies that seem to acquire legitimacy from Scud missile attacks and intifada violence. Muna, whose psychic gifts enable her to witness biblical events, entertains two new guests: Daisy Herbert, a sexually inexperienced English tourist, and Thomas Curtis, who's retracing the 17th-century pilgrimage of a devout ancestor in order to decide if he should become a monk, but who eventually exchanges divine for secular love with Daisy. A witty subplot involves Anglican Reverend Morgan Pooley, custodian of a dubious alternative site for Christ's crucifixion and tomb. In beautifully nuanced prose, Elliott ( The Sadness of Witches ) crafts a quirky, affirmative story pulsating with the troubled soul of the Holy City.
BookList - Alice Joyce
Elliott's latest novel is set in Jerusalem in the midst of unremitting political and religious conflicts. Into this realm Elliott delivers indications of love to a wondrous group of eccentric characters whose lives weave together to form a labyrinth of connections. In the guest house of Eugenia Muna--the stopping point for survivors of frightening events such as airline hijackings, earthquakes, and kidnaping--concepts of time are turned topsy-turvy, and sexual awakening appears as a precious gift that this most unusual concierge may bestow upon unsuspecting visitors. Elliott's engaging and satisfying novel presents a magical, biblical environment in which Eugenia's enchanted spell can work its wonders--a fictional world where joyful unions occur in place of the dreaded apocalypse anticipated by many.
Genre: General Fiction
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