Excessive Joy Injures the Heart Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Excessive Joy Injures the Heart Book

In Elisabeth Harvor's oddly captivating first novel, Excessive Joy Injures the Heart, Claire Vornoff, a 37-year-old Ottawa woman, is having trouble sleeping. After sampling other body work, like reflexology, from a variety of creepy healers, she sends herself through a course of acupuncture and miscellaneous alternative treatments with the quietly charismatic Declan Farrell. One of the difficulties that she has been trying to address in therapy is her openness to men, her selflessness, her goodness, and it comes as no surprise to either Claire or the reader that she falls in love with Dr. Farrell, who aims to challenge all of this. As well as the "dull" breathing exercises he leads her through each week, his treatment includes poking at Claire like an irritating younger brother to see how (and if) she will defend herself. Harvor, a Canadian poet, is an observant novelist who takes great care with her details, which are striking, but never distract from the real business of Claire's obsession. --Regina Marler Read More

from£14.31 | RRP: £17.32
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £22.93
  • Product Description

    Anxious, insomniac, and adrift in her life, Claire Vornoff drives out into the country to become a patient of Declan Farrell, and an education of sorts begins. An iconoclastic practitioner of alternative medicine, Farrell is magnetic and unsettling, and Claire tries in vain to resist him. As she dreams her way through her life, all the while refusing to listen to her friend Libi's dire pronouncements, her attachment to Declan Farrell deepens, and soon she finds herself caught up in a series of unexpected and startling events.Set mainly in Ottawa and Toronto, this stunning novel charts the anatomy of obsession, capturing along the way the dilemmas of contemporary urban life. Harvor creates an erotically charged atmosphere, always alert to the pathos of love's ambiguities. Bold, original, astute, and above all deeply human, Excessive Joy Injures the Heart reveals things about us we didn't know we knew. This is truly an outstanding debut.

  • 0151008949
  • 9780151008940
  • Elisabeth Harvor
  • 1 March 2002
  • Harcourt
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 336
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click through any of the links below and make a purchase we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Click here to learn more.

Would you like your name to appear with the review?

We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.

All form fields are required.