A.K. Blakemore

MOST ANTICIPATED by The Guardian • Paste Magazine • LitHub • The Millions • Library Journal From the prizewinning author of The Manningtree Witches, a subversive historical novel set during the French Revolution, inspired by a young peasant boy turned showman, said to have been tormented and driven to murder by an all-consuming appetite. “There are few writers who can be truly likened to Hilary Mantel, but Blakemore is one.” —The Observer 1798, France. Nuns move along the dark corridors of a Versailles hospital where the young Sister Perpetué has been tasked with sitting with the patient who must always be watched. The man, gaunt, with his sallow skin and distended belly, is dying: they say he ate a golden fork, and that it’s killing him from the inside. But that’s not all—he is rumored to have done monstrous things in his attempts to sate an insatiable appetite…an appetite they say tortures him still. Born in an impoverished village to a widowed young mother, Tarare was once overflowing with quiet affection: for the Baby Jesus and the many Saints, for his mother, for the plants and little creatures in the woods and fields around their house. He spends his days alone, observing the delicate charms of the countryside. But his world is not a gentle one—and soon, life as he knew it is violently upended. Tarare is pitched down a chaotic path through revolutionary France, left to the mercy of strangers, and increasingly, bottomlessly, ravenous. This exhilarating, disquieting novel paints a richly imagined life for The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon in 18th-century France: a world of desire, hunger and poverty; hope, chaos and survival. As in her cult hit The Manningtree Witches, Blakemore showcases her stunning lyricism and deep compassion for characters pushed to the edge of society in The Glutton, her most unputdownable work yet.

A Novel

The Glutton

Le streghe di Manningtree

**Named a MOST ANTICIPATED book of 2023 by The Guardian** From the prize-winning author of The Manningtree Witches, a subversive historical novel set during the French Revolution, inspired by a young peasant boy turned showman, said to have been tormented and driven to murder by an all-consuming appetite. 1798, France. Nuns move along the dark corridors of a Versailles hospital where the young Sister Perpetué has been tasked with sitting with the patient who must always be watched. The man, gaunt, with his sallow skin and distended belly, is dying: they say he ate a golden fork, and that it’s killing him from the inside. But that’s not all—he is rumored to have done monstrous things in his attempts to sate an insatiable appetite…an appetite they say tortures him still. Born in an impoverished village to a widowed young mother, Tarare was once overflowing with quiet affection: for the Baby Jesus and the many Saints, for his mother, for the plants and little creatures in the woods and fields around their house. He spends his days alone, observing the delicate charms of the countryside. But his world is not a gentle one—and soon, life as he knew it is violently upended. Tarare is pitched down a chaotic path through revolutionary France, left to the mercy of strangers, and increasingly, bottomlessly, ravenous. This exhilarating, disquieting novel paints a richly imagined life for The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon in 18th-century France: a world of desire, hunger and poverty; hope, chaos and survival. As in her cult hit The Manningtree Witches, Blakemore showcases her stunning lyricism and deep compassion for characters pushed to the edge of society in The Glutton, her most unputdownable work yet.

Manningtree to malutka mieścina w hrabstwie Essex. Strawiona wojną domową siedemnastowieczna Anglia zebrała plon w postaci mężczyzn. Zostało jedynie kilku niedobitków. Rebecca West zakochuje się w młodym urzędniku Johnie Edesie. Ma dosyć biedy i tego miejsca, chce się wyrwać w świat. Jej matka, znana jako Beldam West (Belle – podobno kiedyś była piękna i Damned – przeklęta), nie ma najlepszego zdania o wybranku swojej córki. Właściwie to nie ma dobrego zdania o mężczyznach tak w ogóle. Lubi się napić i wtedy najchętniej wyraża swoje opinie. W miasteczku pojawia się duchowny, Matthew Hopkins, znany jako pogromca czarownic. Jakiś pijak widzi ciemne kształty w rogu izby, bydło zapada na chorobę, a chłopak sąsiadów dostaje manii – to dla niego wystarczające dowody na obecność mocy zła. Hopkins gromadzi swoich popleczników. Inkwizytorzy zaczynają działać, a fanatyzm wchodzi w krew bardzo łatwo. W mieście zaczynają się egzekucje. Wśród oskarżonych jest oczywiście Beldam. Jej postać symbolizuje wolność wyrażania swoich racji, z kolei Rebecca od początku budzi niezdrowe zainteresowanie Hopkinsa. Według szacunków historycznych Hopkins doprowadził do skazania i śmierci nawet kilkaset kobiet, które oskarżył o kontakt z diabłem. A.K. Baklemore wyśmienicie opowiada tę mroczną, inspirowaną faktami historię – urzeka czytelników trochę baśniowym, trochę budzącym grozę nastrojem.

A.K. Blakemore

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