THE GREENSTONE GRAIL

Book ID/图书代码： 06040004B06288

English Summary/英文概要： The first book in a brand new trilogy from the author of Prospero’s Children. Bartlemy Goodman is approximately 1500 years old. An albino of Greek parentage he was born in Byzantium amidst the decline of the Roman Empire and now resides at Thornyhill house, England, with his dog, Hoover. Bartlemy is one of the Gifted. But long experience has taught him the perils of the power of the witch-kind and so throughout the ages has channelled his considerable talents into cooking, his culinary prowess becoming the stuff of legend: he worked for the Borgias, was among the first to discover chocolate and even taught the likes of Escoffier. On a warm evening in 1991 a young homeless woman holding a baby turns up on Bartlemy’s doorstep and he senses destiny at work. The woman’s name is Annie Ward and her son, Nathan, is an exceptional child as Annie cannot account for his conception. Her husband Daniel died in a car accident so Nathan cannot be his. Soon Bartlemy comes to believe that the boy was created beyond the Gate of Death by a superior being for a special purpose, one that may threaten all of witch-kind and that it is his job to protect him. Whilst Nathan grows and Bartlemy continues to watch over the small family, strange occurrences begin to plague the village. The Thorn family, who gave their name to the village have lived close by since pre-Christian times, were once the guardians of a strange cup of greenish stone and set with jewels. When it was lost; sold to a Jewish collector in Austria by the black sheep of the family who absconded with it in the 1920’s, the family’s fortune soon followed suit. Rumoured to have been stolen by the Nazis during the war it has now turned up at Sotheby’s and the last of the Thorns is determined to get it back by proving the original sale false. Bartlemy joins his friend, Rowena Thorn, in her campaign. But the matter becomes complicated and sinister when Nathan discovers the body of the Austrian owner in the wood nearby and begins to experience disturbing visions involving the cup itself.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： Bartlemy Goodman大概有1500岁了，他是那种极有天赋的人，一千多年来，他都把自己的本事用到厨艺上去了，他的厨艺才华已经是如火纯青了。Bartlemy 为Borgias家族做事，也是第一批发现巧克力的人之一。他甚至还是Escoffier的老师。1991年的一个暖阳阳的夜晚，有位无家可归的少妇抱着襁褓中的孩子出现在他的家门口，他知道这是命运的安排。少妇的名字叫Annie Ward，她手中抱的孩子Nathan很是怪异，因为他没有爸爸的，Annie的丈夫在一次车祸中丧了命。Bartlemy慢慢了解到这个孩子的诞生是有特殊意义的。 Amanda Hemingway原名是Jan Siegel。

Awards/获奖情况：British author Hemingway draws on classic mythology and her fertile imagination to create a refreshingly different Arthurian fantasy, the first in a trilogy about a contemporary grail quest involving many endearing, if occasionally trite and predictable, characters. Nathan Ward is just your typical 11-year-old of supernatural parentage, until he stumbles on a hidden altar that gives him visions of a green stone cup filled with blood. Soon he begins dreaming of Eos, a world that needs the grail for a spell to ward off a terrible plague. As the dreams become astral excursions, the grail surfaces in Nathan’s world, but then is stolen and sent to Eos, at the wrong time and into the wrong hands. While Nathan goes to the rescue, his mother and the venerable grail guardian, Bartlemy Goodman, fend off the village witch, an antiques trader, police and a malevolent river spirit. Despite being almost self-consciously British, the book glows with a blend of ancient magic and wide-eyed wonder that should captivate audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, especially readers weary of more conventional Arthurian epics. ---From Publishers Weekly

In Hemingway’s beautifully written and intriguing variation on the quest for the Grail, a single mother whose son, Nathan, doesn’t resemble his supposed father, an old recluse whose skills encompass more than the culinary domain, and a missing family artifact with a string of legends attached to it are the major ingredients. Melding them, Hemingway places all in an English setting in which traditional, modern, and imaginary elements are skillfully blended. In the manner of so many romances, there is even a very fine opening poem. One descries in the situation of Hemingway’s young Nathan resemblances to elements of the situations of a boy named Harry, some of Neil Gaiman’s characters, and even Lemony Snicket. There are also notable differences, notably Nathan’s mother, Annie Ward, a stronger female character than any of the authors involved in the above-mentioned contexts have yet created. She and Hemingway’s folkloric expertise make it sheer good news that this book launches at least a trilogy. Frieda Murray---From Booklist

About the Author/作者介绍： Jan Siegel has already lived through one lifetime -- during which she travelled the world and supported herself through a variety of professions, including those of actress, barmaid, garage hand, laboratory assistant, journalist and model. Her new life is devoted to her writing, but she also finds time to ride, ski and attend the opera

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：SOLD

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

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