The Cloud Sketcher - Hardcover

Rayner, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060196343 ISBN 13: 9780060196349

Publisher: Harper, 2001

Synopsis

As the liner Ile de France docks in New York harbor, passengers notice with surprise the policemen gathered below and speculate as to which criminal among them will soon be apprehended. Here and there a single word floats above the general din: murder. Now and then a sage head tips knowingly in the direction of a flamboyant bootlegger: a crime of passion. But when the crowd begins to make its way down the gangplank, the notorious gangster slips through unmolested. Instead it's a celebrated architect with bums from a childhood accident partly covered by the patch over one eye -- who submits to authorities and is taken away in handcuffs.

So begins The Cloud Sketcher, a passionate tale of love and war and art that ranges from the ice fields of the Arctic Circle at the dawn of the last century to the ruthless world of New York real estate speculation in the 1920s. In a tiny village in the northernmost reaches of Finland, a young boy named Esko Vaananen mourns the death of his mother, who died in the same fire that so horribly scarred his face. Miserably, impossibly in love with the beautiful daughter of a Russian aristocrat, Esko is at the brink of despair when, in the magical light of the aurora borealis, he has a vision of an impossibly tall building rising gracefully from the frozen lake and disappearing into the clouds above him.

This pilvenpiirtaja--"cloud sketcher," or skyscraper sparks Esko's lifelong quest for beauty. He becomes an architect, believing that if he can create something of unparalleled loveliness, surely then he will be worthy of the love of Katerina Malysheva. This obsessive desire will cause Esko to risk everything time and again: as a reluctant hero in the bloody Battle of Tampere (the defining battle in the Finnish Civil War); as a laborer on the treacherous high steel of a riveting gang, hundreds of feet above Manhattan's city streets; as a player in the ruthless world of New York real estate speculation; and, finally, as a man accused of murdering the husband of the woman he loves.

The Cloud Sketcher is a transforming journey into the heart of beauty and the peril of love, a romantic, lyrical epic that resurrects history with such authenticity and drama as to place Richard Rayner in the company of our very best novelists.

About this title

About the Author:

Born in England, Richard Rayner now lives in Los Angeles. His previous books include the memoir The Blue Suit and the novels The Cloud Sketcher, L.A. Without a Map, and Murder Book. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and many other publications.

From AudioFile:

Spanning over thirty years of time, Rayner's tale of love and war builds to a smashing finale as the characters move through the world of New York architecture. The story follows Esko Vaananen from an impoverished childhood in Finland at the turn of the century to financial and professional success in New York at the end of the Roaring Twenties. The story can only be described as epic, with politics and intrigue cropping up around every bend. Actor Simon Jones reads this abridgment with the same passion the lead character shows toward life and provides distinct, varied voices for each character. Although the abridgment seems choppy at times, Jones reads with such an easy pace, the gaps go almost unnoticed. The combination of a good story and a great performance makes the production fly. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0060196343
• ISBN 13: 9780060196349
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448