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Titles > Fiction >
Transformations
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Transformations
by James King
Novel
300 pages
Hard Cover
5.125" X 7.625"
ISBN: 1896951570
$29.95
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Transformations
by James King
Daniel
Home is a frequent guest at society soirées in Victorian
London, where he presides over séances replete with levitating
tables, ghostly apparitions, and inexplicable happenings. After
one such evening, Robert Browning denounces Home as a scoundrel,
a fake — although there exists no proof to substantiate the
accusation.
Browning's claim hangs over Daniel, a thin and reclusive man, for
the rest of his life — not because he is a fake, but because
his "gift" has never been of benefit to him.
Eventually, Daniel leaves London for Florence, where he attempts
to fit into the English colony of painters, writers, and collectors
— all of whom are misfits of one kind or another. Florence,
however, does not afford Home the peace he hopes for; in fact, he
finds himself the subject of vicious rumours and the victim of an
attempt on his life.
Word of Home's gift reaches the shores of the U.S., in the midst
of the Civil War. He is called upon to travel to Washington to assist
Mary Todd Lincoln in contacting her dead son. It is in this séance
that Homes first experiences his own gifts — it is an experience
that transforms him and is of lasting benefit for the Lincolns.
About James King. |
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“King’s
elegant prose reflects perfectly the restraint of the age, and
his obvious passion for the details ... With Transformations,
King has delivered a book that is at once thoughtful, entertaining,
melancholy, and uplifting.”
— The Globe and Mail
“Distilling vast references into a narrative of mixed styles
— from sparse to rococo — King straddles a barely discernable
line between fact and fiction ... King’s spin on literary
artistic and social pretensions is ambitious and intriguing ...”
— Toronto Star
“King constructs a threefold mystery narrative — equal
parts serial killer whodunit, art-world intrigue, and supernatural
mystery — that raises questions about the relationship between
reality and contrivance, life and art, the authentic and the illusory
... The story is thematically intriguing, the mysteries are skillfully
devised, and the historical details are convincingly drawn ...”
— Books in Canada
It
must be liberating for a biographer such as James King to write
novels based on the lives of real people. Having written biographies
of, among others, Margaret Laurence, Virginia Woolf and Farley
Mowat, one can assume that King derives some satisfaction from
piecing together the puzzle of lives lived. And yet it must chafe,
from time to time, having to confine himself to the facts. This
may explain why all three of King's novels -- Faking, Blue
Moon and the newly published Transformations -- are
"loosely" based on the lives of historical figures.
Ironically, Transformations is a testament not only to
King's considerable talent as a novelist, but to his expertise
as a biographer. Based on the life of Victorian medium Daniel
Home, the novel entwines real and fictional characters and events
with such skill that the overall effect is one of utmost authenticity.
In terms of style, King's elegant prose reflects perfectly the
restraint of the age, and his obvious passion for the details
-- art, furniture, clothing -- serves to convey an acute visual
image, first of Victorian London, then Florence, then Washington,
D.C., during the American Civil War.
With Transformations, King has delivered a book that is
at once thoughtful, entertaining, melancholy and uplifting. As
Home says, "the spirits remind the living to take advantage
of their lives on this earth." We can thank James King for
resurrecting the spirit of Home and so reminding us.
— Roxane Ward
The Globe & Mail
October 25, 2003
Read the complete review
here.
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