Description
Book SynopsisHurtle Duffield is incapable of loving anything except what he paints. The men and women who court him during his long life are, above all, the victims of his art. He is the vivisector, dissecting their weaknesses with cruel precision: his sister''s deformity, a grocer''s moonlight indiscretion and the passionate illusions of his mistress, Hero Pavloussi. It is only when Hurtle meets an egocentric adolescent whom he sees as his spiritual child does he experience a deeper, more treacherous emotion.
Trade ReviewOne of the greatest magicians of fiction ... White's scope is vast and his invention endless * Observer *
Patrick White is, in the finest sense, a world novelist. His themes are catholic and complex and he pursues them with a single-minded energy and vision * Guardian *
Australia's greatest novelist -- Geoffrey Rush
Duffield's rise from humble beginnings to grotesque monster is brilliantly told and captures the singlemindedness of many 20th-century greats * Artists & Illustrators *
