Knowledge of Water (Ballantine Reader's Circle) - Softcover

Smith, Sarah

3.43

262 ratings by Goodreads

9780345409638: Knowledge of Water (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345409639 ISBN 13: 9780345409638

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1997

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An enigmatic man haunted by guilt and a dark secret from the past . . . A beautiful young woman consumed by a desire that could destroy her lifelong dream . . . A madman who stalks them both in retribution for a murder they know nothing about. They are all part of one of the most critically acclaimed suspense novels of the year.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF WATER

"Lushly erotic . . . The centerpiece of Sarah Smith's elegant period novel is the torrential flood that nearly swept Paris away in 1910. . . . An exquisite stylist, she observes her characters in the most intimate detail, defining them with witty precision and placing them in a rain-drenched portrait of Edwardian Paris that could hang in the Louvre."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Compelling . . . Engrossing . . . Envelop[s] the reader with history, mystery, and passion."
--The Boston Herald

"A haunting tale . . . An accessible mix of historical speculation, literary allusion, and suspense, [this novel] could become this year's Name of the Rose."
--Entertainment Weekly

"As satisfying a mystery as the Mona Lisa's smile."
--USA Today

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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

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