Conversations with Mr. Prain - Softcover

Taylor, Joan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933633026 ISBN 13: 9781933633022

Publisher: Melville House, 2006

Synopsis

As this erotic mystery unfolds, the lost art of conversation seems to have been rediscovered in the scintillating dialogue that whips and snaps between Stella, a vivacious Bohemian writer and eco-activist, and Edward Prain, a refined connoisseur of the rare books on hand in Stella's fusty London bookshop.

While Prain is mysteriously aloof about his background, Stella finds his insights into art more and more stimulating, until one rainy afternoon she makes a startling discovery: Prain is the head of England's most prestigious publishing house and a leading collector of art. What's more, he knows more about her than she realized-he knows, for example, that for a while she posed nude as an artists' model. And he would like her to come to tea at his country estate . . . to discuss her writing.

Stella is too intrigued-and too eager to escape her starving artist's life-to say no. But the cat-and-mouse game only intensifies at Prain's sumptuous estate, where she finds herself engaged in an increasingly devilish conversation on the making of art, the selling of art, and the protection of self . . . as if her life depended on it.

Joan Taylor is a distinguished scholar whose accomplishments have sent her all over the world. She holds a chair in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Waikato University, New Zealand. Born in New Zealand, she is currently living in England with her husband, an international human rights specialist and her two children.

About this title

About the Author:

Joan Taylor is a distinguished scholar whose accomplishments have sent her all over the world. She holds a chair in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Waikato University, New Zealand. Born in New Zealand, she is currently living in England with her husband, an international human rights specialist and her two children.

From Publishers Weekly:

In Taylor's intriguing but uneven debut novel, the power of the imagination is pitted against reality in the relationship between an unpublished novelist and a powerful book publisher. Polar opposites-in the literary world and otherwise-struggling young writer and artists' model Stella first meets publishing mogul Edward Prain in the bookstall she runs. Prain becomes a regular, and though they know they make an unsuitable match, the two engage in some intellectual flirting that turns serious when Prain asks to read her work-and then reveals that he bought a nude photo of her a year before. When Stella moves into Prain's mansion to work on her manuscript, her imagination begins to run away with her, and a cat-and-mouse game of sexual attraction and psychological manipulation ensues. Amid much discussion of the art and publishing worlds, Taylor tells a compelling story. Her characters, especially Stella, have a tendency to act on strange motives and reach nonsensical conclusions, apparently to accommodate the ideas Taylor wishes to explore-the role of fantasy in life, art and commerce, and the potential for destruction that lies therein. Though it can puzzle and ultimately frustrate-especially in the silly, rushed dénouement-this novel takes smart chances and almost pulls them off.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Melville House
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1933633026
• ISBN 13: 9781933633022
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 236