From
While on their way to the Galapagos Islands, Daniel and Nancy are involved in a freak airplane accident. For a brief second, Daniel instinctively chooses to save himself instead of the mother of his child. Although he goes back to save her, and eventually performs a heroic act that rescues her and others, this momentary betrayal throws their relationship and their lives into a tailspin. In a parallel story, Daniel’s great-grandfather struggles with loyalty, honor, and love during WWI. Multiple mysteries interweave and unravel as three generations of men try to answer questions about faith, God, and war in this suspenseful and unusual novel. --Marta Segal Block
Review
“Epic….a truly transcendental reading experience.”
—BookPage.com
"[An] elegant meditation on morality (among many other topics)....Farndale...knows how to tell a terrific story."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
International praise for Nigel Farndale’s THE BLASPHEMER
“This is a fine novel; strange and unforgettable.”
—Kate Saunders, The Times [London]
“A great achievement…To take on the First World War as so very many have done and make it fresh is remarkable.”
—Melvyn Bragg
“Does suspense exceptionally well, and is a book that won’t leave your fingernails intact...a terrifically exciting and thought-provoking must-read.”
—John Harding, _Daily Mail
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“Beautiful...Farndale's elegant prose, his storytelling ability and the wise tolerance with which he views...his characters lend his exhilarating novel a tenderly redemptive afterimage.”
—Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph
“This perfectly constructed drama explores the moralities around unconditional love and self-preservation. And it also weaves an intricate story of redemption starting in the trenches at Passchendaele and continuing till Britain's current terror threat....storytelling at its best.”
—News of the World
“Ignites with an energy that should ensure short-listing in the next Man Booker Prize....Farndale’s evocation of trench warfare surpasses Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong...Of the book’s many accomplishments perhaps the strongest is the writing itself. Exquisite and luminous...Farndale gives a master class in the power of literature to illuminate the physical world and the human soul.”
—The Australian
“Love, cowardice and redemption are the themes that stalk Farndale’s beautifully intelligent tale.”
—Daily Mirror
“A beguiling and resonant novel of ideas. The action is vivid and absorbing...although this intergenerational family drama is plotted like a thriller, it’s also a novel of ideas, throwing light on the strange dance between religion and science.”
—Cameron Woodhead, Melbourne Age
“Profound, moving and compelling. A beautifully composed novel.”
—Emily Maitlis