The Confessions of Edward Day

Description

In the seamy theatre world of 1970s New York, where rents are cheap and love is free, aspiring actor Edward Day joins his friends for a summer weekend on the New Jersey Shore. But something happens - and Edward's life will never be the same again. He is saved from drowning by the mysterious Guy Margate, a man with whom he shares both a marked physical resemblance and an implacable attraction to the beautiful, talented, neurotic Madeleine. Ever after, in encounters provoked by envy and resentment, Edward is torn between his desire for Madeleine and his indebtedness to Guy. Professional and personal jealousies come to a head when Edward is cast opposite Madeleine in an acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya, their respective roles painfully mirroring the reality of their personal situations. As the sexual tensions of the play spill over outside the theatre walls, Guy - Edward's reluctant saviour and now Madeleine's husband - makes the ultimate act of protest...

Valerie Martin is the author of two collections of short fiction and six novels, including Italian Fever, The Great Divorce and Mary Reilly [the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story, from the viewpoint of a housemaid, which was filmed with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich. Her most recent book is a non-fiction work about St Francis of Assisi: Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St Francis. She lives in upstate New York.

Cool, assured, intricate. Take your pick. Valerie Martin is one wily writer. Trust her, though. Take her hand and drop down through the shingles of the human psyche and see there what you will... Edward's narrating voice is clean, open, fastidiously observant, a perfect pitch for that strange window in the 1970s when anything seemed possible. - The Sydney Morning Herald A sexy psychological slice of life, about real people with recognizable fears and common desires. - InStyle 'One of Martin's best novels yet, a book full of warmth and intrigue whose pages do all but turn themselves.' - The Weekend Australian A dark and brilliant novel... It drips with the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller, though with mordant insight into the psychology of actors, and the performative aspects of human behaviour. - The Age