Caroline: A Mystery

(Paperback)

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Description

When Mr Shaw meets the beguiling and enigmatic Caroline, she changes his life. But Caroline is a donkey, and their happiness is soon threatened. When Mr Shaw meets Caroline on his summer holiday she turns his world upside down. Caroline, whose eyes a man could drown in. Caroline, who likes a radish or two. Caroline, who is in fact a donkey. To the outrage of his neighbours and the bemusement of his wife, when Mr Shaw returns to the city he takes Caroline with him. She plays chess magnificently, charms his colleagues and, most importantly, Caroline re-awakens in Mr Shaw an appetite for life he thought he'd lost. But can this idyll last Unfolding with the beauty and power of fable, Caroline depicts a glorious Indian summer in one man's life.

Reviews

A complete delight... Ancient myth meets daily grind, and the ordinary and the fantastic... are mingled everywhere you look -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
Delightful, unforgettable and splendidly peculiar * Spectator *
Medvei's prose is limpid and particular, telling the story with an exquisite control that interfuses the sublime and ridiculous in exact proportions, the one hidden inside the other... The result is pleasurable and profound. Medvei never puts a foot wrong * Times Literary Supplement *
Medvei's fable about the inexplicable nature of human passion unfolds with a gentle surrealism * Financial Times *
This absolutely engrossing tale is written with serene poise * Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Cornelius Medvei was born in 1977 and grew up in the east of England. He studied modern languages at Oxford University and worked for a time in China as a teacher. His first book, Mr Thundermug, was published in 2006. He lives in London.