The Knowledge of Water - Hardcover

Smith, Sarah

3.43

262 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345391357 ISBN 13: 9780345391353

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1996

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

"Stunning," said The New York Times Book Review of Sarah Smith's historical mystery, The Vanished Child, "Tells a grim tale of murder and duplicity in stately prose that subtly enhances the psychological horror." Now with The Knowledge of Water, Sarah Smith delves even more deeply into the realm of deception, forgery, and menace that she has made so uniquely her own. Set in Paris during the devastating flood of 1910, and redolent of the colorful bohemian atmosphere of the time, The Knowledge of Water is a lush, complex, beautifully written novel about the consuming pleasures of passion and the obsessive perils of art.
Three years ago, the enigmatic Alexander von Reisden proposed to the young and very lovely Perdita Halley on a train between Boston and New York. Though initially accepting, Perdita later declined, fearing that marriage would compromise her dream of becoming a concert pianist. Now Perdita has come to study at the famous Conservatoire in Paris, the endlessly romantic city where Reisden heads an institute that specializes in diagnosis of the insane. Little suspecting the depths of each other's desires, and defying social convention, Perdita and Alexander plunge into an erotic, all-consuming affair that seems destined for tragedy. For Perdita cannot marry and attend the Conservatoire; and Alexander remains haunted by guilt and a dark secret from the past. Then an American acquaintance arrives, turning mere gossip into grand scandal.
As incessant rain pours down on the city of light, an intricate network of plots and counterplots swirl around the couple. Perdita's friend, the eccentric writer, Milly Xico, hatches a plot of sweet revenge against her former husband. And a deliciously elegant game of art and life turns deadly serious as a madman stalks first Alexander and then Perdita, threatening to destroy them both in retribution for a murder they know nothing about--or do they?
Sarah Smith has the born novelist's gift of creating a world more real, more compelling, than our own--a world of fascinating, intimately realized characters, strangely deceptive appearances, and mounting suspense. In The Knowledge of Water, Sarah Smith gives us that rare reading experience--a novel as intelligent in its style as it is haunting in its revelation.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

As revealed in The Knowledge of Water, a great flood washed through the streets in Paris 1910, exposing secrets thought to be sufficiently buried: the death of a singer, an art forgery, matters of the heart. The complex web of stories then tells a larger tale, that of the lives of Parisians in the time. The characters find their passion in art and murder and the beauty of the flood. This novel follows Sarah Smith's acclaimed The Vanished Child and rings with the same mix of suspense, history and wonder.

From the Publisher:

Excerpts from reviews of Sarah Smith's The Knowledge of Water

"Ms. Smith has written a lushly erotic, feminist study of artists and
lovers and killers swept up in their obsessive passions. An exquisite
stylist, she observers her characters in the most intimate detail,
defining them with witty precision and placing them in a rain-drenched
portrayal of Edwardian Paris that could hang in the Louvre."

--The New York Times Book Review

"Intellectual stimulation of the highest order... A ripping yarn with
provocative and substantial things to say."

--Kirkus

"The brilliant second book in a trilogy ... [The book's] themes come
together during the magnificent flood that Smith evokes in thrilling
detail and sweep.... This splendid book centers on earning the right to
see--and to express what one sees, feels, and knows."

--The San Francisco Chronicle

"Haunting... An accessible mix of historical speculation, literary
allusion, and suspense, The Knowledge of Water could become this
year's Name of the Rose."

--Entertainment Weekly

"Intelligent and ambitious... The author's sensual re-creation of
waterlogged Paris could be included in a textbook on how to write a
historical novel...."

--The Los Angeles Times

"The Knowledge of Water is as satisfying a mystery as the Mona
Lisa's smile."

--USA Today

"Lovers of murder mysteries may find themselves swimming in much deeper,
varied waters here. Mystery is the heartbeat of the story, but the puzzles
here are not mostly about killings. They are the realms of difference
between art and forgery, between one's self-knowledge and one's public
image, between how people see and what they either do not or will not
see...."

--Mostly Murder

"Writing of early twentieth-century Paris, Smith... captures the city of
love, art, and floods in a shimmering complex story.... Through short,
intense chapters, with dialogue that is both rich and evocative, Smith
fashions a story that is as much romance as it is mystery."

--The Virginian Pilot

"Portraying the fabric of society in 1910, The Knowledge of Water
goes beyond period trappings to envelope the reader with history, mystery,
and passion.... Dark and engrossing, this production is magnifique."

--The Boston Sunday Herald

"The Knowledge of Water offers comfort, giving readers a vividly
drawn, historically exotic setting peopled with characters whose motives
and thoughts and emotional circumstances are easily recognizable."

--The Washington Post

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.