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 The
Mathematics of Love
by Emma Darwin
Harper Collins Books
The mathematics of love truly defies arithmetic... The
Mathematics of Love is an intimate, poignant story of two people whose
lives— amazingly, impossibly— become interwoven in a brilliant tapestry
of tragedy, memory, and love. Moving from the modern English countryside
to the mountains of nineteenth-century Spain, Emma Darwin's
extraordinary narrative style beautifully evokes the horrors of war, the
pain of loss, the heat of passion, and the timeless power of love. 1819.
Stephen Fairhurst, a veteran of Waterloo, is weary of war. Wounded in
body and spirit from battles both bloody and heartbreaking, he returns
to Kersey Hall from a self-imposed exile in Spain. Amid the verdant
beauty and quiet stillness of the countryside he yearns for solitude,
but instead meets a most unexpected new acquaintance: the unconventional
Lucy Durward. Blessed with an artistic hand, a sharp mind, and an
independent spirit, Lucy is a woman unlike any Stephen has ever known.
In their newfound correspondence he shields himself from the shadows of
the past— and the painful secret he carries. 1976. While her mother
spends the summer in Spain with a new lover, sixteen-year-old Anna Ware
is packed off to live at Kersey Hall, now a failed girls' school run by
her estranged uncle. Hot, bored, desperate for the excitement of London
and her girlfriends, Anna looks for a way out, but instead finds a new
mentor in Theo.
A charismatic, aging war photographer
both worldly and kind, Theo offers an antidote to Anna's loneliness and
anger. Yet Theo is not her only solace. Over the course of the summer
her curiosity is piqued by a collection of old letters between the
former owner of Kersey Hall, Stephen Fairhurst, and a Miss Lucy Durward.
As Anna unravels the past letter by letter, she begins to create a
heartrending secret of her own— one that will connect her to Stephen in
startling and indelible ways. Hauntingly beautiful and wondrously told,
The Mathematics of Love diagrams the mysterious equation that is the
human heart. Making flesh and blood the unwavering bond that connects us
all, it is a novel that will linger long after the last page is turned.
Emma Darwin was born in 1964 and raised in London, Manhattan, and
Brussels. She worked in academic publishing before turning to
photography and writing. Her story “Maura's Arm” was a winner of the
2004 Bridport Prize, which was judged by Jim Crace. A
great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin and his wife, Emma Wedgwood,
she lives in London with her two children. UB
John Mundazio works for one of the numerous publishing companies in the
New York metropolitan area which is currently planning a bold takeover
of the parallel universe in which he occasionally resides with several
of his imaginary friends and at least two of the strange voices in his
head. But he is confident it is not the one you're thinking of at this
very moment. Convinced that Susie-Q's are indeed a food group and that
no REAL list of fun toys is ever really complete without mentioning
"Log"— that quintessential Ren and Stimpy Show toy that boldly dared to
go where no toy ever could... "The Dazed-Meister" refuses to partake in
anything which requires him to dress up like Wonder Woman or sing the
theme song from The Partridge Family in its entirety. He also opposes
floatation devices of any sort.
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