The Meaning of Night

Michael Cox — 2012

Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 'A novel of fate and free will, forensic detection and blind love, crime and its justifications . . . finely tuned yet extravagantly complex' Evening Standard A cold October night, 1854. In a dark passageway, an innocent man is stabbed to death. So begins the extraordinary story of Edward Glyver, book lover, scholar and murderer. As a young boy, Glyver always believed he was destined for greatness. This seems the stuff of dreams, until a chance discovery convinces Glyver that he was right: greatness does await him, along with immense wealth and influence. And he will stop at nothing to win back a prize that he now knows is rightfully his. Glyver's path leads him from the depths of Victorian London, with its foggy streets, brothels and opium dens, to Evenwood, one of England's most enchanting country houses. His is a story of betrayal and treachery, of death and delusion, of ruthless obsession and ambition. And at every turn, driving Glyver irresistibly onwards, is his deadly rival: the poet-criminal Phoebus Rainsford Daunt. Thirty years in the writing, The Meaning of Night is a stunning achievement. Full of drama and passion, it is an enthralling novel that will captivate readers right up to its final thrilling revelation.

Reviews

Rebecca C Wright@morseren

Mar 11, 2024

This was a tough book to get through. The narrative style was a bit tedious and although I read books *actually* written in the Victorian era as well as modern stories set in that era, this was more of a re-visioning of an historical memoir that I guess was intended to be suspenseful and dark but came across a bit boring. I was not surprised with the ending at all. It is not a bad read per say but is is slow and the gets bogged down in details that don't really move the story along. Worth a read if you have time to kill and just like a lot of Victorian atmosphere.

Sarah Vaughan@sarahlee1164

Feb 17, 2022

Cover design / graphic elements: 4/5 Character development: 3/5 Overall story: 4/5 Writing: 4/5 Overall rating: 4/5 Who I would recommend this book to / what it reminds me of: fans of Victorian literature, historical fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, mysteries, suspense novels I originally read this back in the fall of 2010 and, while I did not remember the entire storyline, I remembered that I really enjoyed the book overall. I decided to pick it up once again when I saw that there was a sequel written a few years ago that I had not read. Overall, I did enjoy this book. I love historical fiction, particularly historical fiction set in Victorian England featuring castles, royalty, drama, and mystery. In fact, that's kind of my thing. While I did feel it was pretty unnecessary for this book to be 700 pages, I found myself enjoying it and not hoping it would be over soon. The writing was frequently long and drawn out, but not insufferable. Some of the "twists," if they were supposed to be twists, I caught onto right away. I'm not sure whether or not that has to do with the fact that I'd read it once before and subconsciously remembered what happened or if they just weren't that great of twists anyway, but that didn't bother me too much. As for the characters, I think the author did a nice job of developing them and creating people who we both have empathy for and yet don't condone the actions of. Overall, I enjoyed this read and will keep it in my collection to read again in the future. I also plan on picking up the sequel from my local library soon.