Lux

Description

King David sings his psalms. A world away, King Henry plots. And courtier Thomas Wyatt sees them both, his beloved falcon Lukkes on his arm. King David sings his psalms. A world away, King Henry plots. And courtier Thomas Wyatt sees them both, his beloved falcon Lukkes on his arm. David wants Bathsheba. Henry too must have what he wants. He wants Ann, a divorce, a son. He looks up at his tapestry of David and sees a mighty predecessor who defended his faith and took what he liked. But he leaves it to others to count the costs. Among those counting is the poet Wyatt, who sees a different David, a man who repented before God, in song as in life. This is the version of the biblical king which Wyatt must give voice to as he translates David's psalms. As David pursues Bathsheba, Henry courts Ann, and Wyatt interweaves the past and present. Lux is a story of love and its reach, fidelity and faith, power and its abuses. 'Elizabeth Cook's visual imagination is as sharp and gorgeous as any Pre-Raphaelite painter's. Her psychological penetration is deep and compassionate. They are both unfailing as she weaves together the stories of King David and Bathsheba and of Thomas Wyatt and Ann Boleyn. If this is, in a way, a tour de force, it doesn't read like that- the connections are organic and realistic, gripping the reader and integral to the rapid movement of the narrative.' -John Drury, author of Music At Midnight 'Intelligence, originality and poetic grace ... Ms. Cook reflects on the momentous change by tenderly humanising all of these larger-than-life characters. Her portrayal of Bathsheba is both more compassionate and more convincing than the usual caricature of a power-hungry seductress. Her David, too, is remarkably approachable ... Again and again in this discerning novel, sin and suffering culminate in a majestic work of humility and praise.' -Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal ' Cook's account of an Old Testament repentance is a full-throated one.' -Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail

Elizabeth Cook is an award-winning author, poet, librettist, and scholar. Born in Gibraltar, she spent her childhood in Nigeria and Dorset. She has been the British Academy Chatterton Lecturer and a Hawthornden Fellow, and has written for publications including the London Review of Books. She is the editor of the Oxford Authors John Keats and author of the acclaimed novel Achilles (Methuen and Picador USA) which, in a performance version, won a Fringe First at Edinburgh and has been performed at the National Theatre. She wrote the libretto for Francis Grier's The Passion of Jesus of Nazareth, commissioned and broadcast by the BBC. She now lives in London and Suffolk.