The Raft

by Arabella Edge (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.29

  A tale of grand passion set in Paris in 1818, Arabella Edge's second novel is inspired by the story of Theodore Gericault and his extraordinary masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa. Aged just twenty-one, Gericault is feted at the prestigious salon for his painting Charging Chasseur. Seven years later -- lovesick and distracted by his secret affair with his benefactor--uncle's wife, Alexandrine -- he is still desperately searching for inspiration for his next work. Then he hears about the French frigate Medusa, wrecked off the west coast of Africa. With a hundred and fifty souls abandoned on a makeshift raft, rumours of madness, murder and cannibalism horrify the French public but fascinate Gericault; when he manages to track down two of the raft's survivors to discover what really happened during those fifteen days at sea, he knows he has finally found his subject. 'This is a marvellously rich and pacy novel about the gestation of a masterpiece ...Arabella Edge weaves a combination of fable, thriller and costume comedy of manners' Novel of the Week, Telegraph

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $5.88

  Having won a Gold Medal at the prestigious Salon for his painting Charging Chasseur - completed at the tender age of twenty-one - Gericault finds himself, seven years later, distracted and lovesick due to his secret affair with his benefactor-uncle's young wife, Alexandrine, still desperately searching for the subject of his next tableau. Then, at the house of his neighbour, he hears about the French frigate Medusa, shipwrecked off the shores of the West African coast. With tales of betrayal, madness, murder and cannibalism, this was a catastrophe that horrified the French public - and Gericault is duly fascinated. When he manages to track down two of the raft's survivors and invites them to his home to discover what really happened during those fifteen days at sea, Gericault knows he has finally found his subject. Praise for The Company: 'Pitched somewhere between Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies , this is a thoroughly diabolical tale in the best sense'. - Daily Mail . 'We're led into the mind of a marooned madman via a lapidary, first-person prose style that speaks vividly to the senses'. Nimbly balanced on a tightrope of acute intelligence and ruthless psychopathy'. Time Out . 'Edge is almost as good as Patrick O'Brian in her re-creation of life on a sailing ship...A second novel please. And soon'. - The Times .