The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

The Gargoyle

by Andrew Davidson

A young man is fighting for his life.
Into his room walks a bewitching woman who believes she can save him.
Their journey will have you believing in the impossible.

The nameless and beautiful narrator of The Gargoyle is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and wakes up in a burns ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned. His life is over - he is now a monster.

But in fact it is only just beginning. One day, Marianne Engel, a wild and compelling sculptress of gargoyles, enters his life and tells him that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly burned mercenary and she was a nun and a scribe who nursed him back to health in the famed monastery of Engelthal. As she spins her tale, Scheherazade fashion, and relates equally mesmerising stories of deathless love in Japan, Greenland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life - and, finally, to love.

Reviewed by mitabird on

4 of 5 stars

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This was a very interesting novel. It's about a man who gets severly burned in a car accident. The story details his recovery and his relationship with an unusual woman named Marianne Engel. He meets her while in the hospital and discovers that she is a psychiatric patient. She proceeds to tell him fascinating stories of when they first meet in the 14th century. According to her, her purpose is to create gargoyles (she carves them) and give them the extra hearts that she has.

It took me a while to get into this story, but I am so glad that I stuck with it. The description of his recovery was horrific. I would never have expected it to occur the way it did nor the length of time it would take. Marianne, however, was the shining star in this novel. She told her stories with such conviction, that it leaves the reader wondering if her tales could actually have happened. I would definitely recommend reading this. 4.5 stars

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  • Started reading
  • 7 March, 2009: Finished reading
  • 7 March, 2009: Reviewed