Alexandria: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Unfolds - Hardcover

Bantock, Nick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081183140X ISBN 13: 9780811831406

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2002

Synopsis

Alexandria will continue to delight the 3 million readers who fell in love with the epistolary romance of Griffin & Sabine. Awash with gorgeous artwork, the mystery of Griffin Moss and Sabine Strohem now entwines Matthew Sedon, an archaeologist steeped in Egyptian antiquity, and Isabella de Reims, a student in Paris whose vision holds the key to a new reality. Intrigue turns to danger and romance turns to passion as Matthew and Isabella struggle to make sense of a world-and feelings-beyond experience. Only the guidance of Griffin and Sabine, expert navigators of myth and reality, can keep them safe. Author and artist Nick Bantock brings a new sensuality and romance to his vivid dreamscapes and unique visual perspective. Alexandria is a breathtaking new chapter in a saga that has captured hearts, minds, and imaginations the world over.

About this title

About the Author

Nick Bantock is the author of numerous illustrated novels, including Griffin & Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, The Golden Mean, The Gryphon, and Alexandria, which together spent 100 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. Born in England, he now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Reviews

It's been 11 years since Bantock first introduced the eponymous stars of Griffin & Sabine, the beautiful and unusual novel in which the reader became a voyeuristic third party to the lush correspondence between London postcard designer Griffin Moss and South Pacific postage-stamp designer Sabine Strohem; two subsequent volumes completed the trilogy. Last year, Bantock launched a second trilogy with The Gryphon, reuniting Griffin and Sabine and introducing Egyptologist Matthew Sedon and Isabella de Reims, a student in Paris. At the outset of this latest epistolary volume, Matthew informs his beloved Isabella that Sabine has somehow become a part of him, in order to heighten his powers of intuition. This comes in handy when Isabella finds herself menaced by their sinister foe, Frolatti, and Matthew is called away by an exciting archeological find. Is the mysterious sculpture discovered at the dig site what Frolatti has been after? Bantock has fashioned a maddeningly labyrinthine, wildly romantic and exquisite work that reveals just how much story can be conveyed with a few well-placed words and images. He threads the theme of dualism seamlessly throughout, underscoring Sabine's assertion, "In each of us there are two worlds-the practical and the mythological" and the notion that the coming together of the two, as embodied here by Isabella and Matthew, is an essential part of some grand design. The book's cliffhanger ending will only intensify the eagerness of fans for the concluding volume, The Morning Star.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Highly imaginative and ebulliently romantic illustrator and storyteller Bantock revived the epistolary tale of Griffin and Sabine, the cosmic love story that catapulted him onto best-seller lists more than a decade ago, in his last book, The Gryphon [BKL S 15 01]. In that tantalizing volume, the long silent correspondents make contact with another smitten pair: the young archaeologist, Matthew, and his sweetheart, Isabella. As their mystical adventure continues here, Sabine affirms her psychic connection with Matthew, who has just begun work on a new dig in Alexandria, perhaps on the site of the city's legendary lost library, and Griffin continues his long-distance, somewhat spooky mentoring of Isabella, who is studying sphinxes in Paris. All four are eloquent, artistic, and oddly calm in the face of inexplicable, often frightening events that mark their approach to a hidden treasure their menacing foe seems also to covet. Bantock draws liberally on the myth of the Egyptian god Thoth, scribe and guardian of the great library, and employs a self-possessed cat as Isabella's new familiar, upping the ante on both love and mysticism only to leave his enchanted readers waiting impatiently for the next installment. As always Bantock's illustrations are exquisite, each a beautifully detailed clue to the metaphysical mystery at hand, but, as before, many of the letters are removable, making this an unlikely candidate for circulation but well worth having for in-library reading. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 081183140X
• ISBN 13: 9780811831406
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 56