One Hour of Fervor - by Muriel Barbery (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A novel about the decisions one makes and the destiny they determine ... Haru, a successful Japanese art dealer, loves beauty, harmony, art, balance, intriguing women, sophisticated conversation, and elegance. Months after a brief affair in Japan with a French woman, Maud, he discovers she is pregnant with his child. She warns him, however, that if he ever tries to see her or the child, she will kill herself. Quietly devastated at the thought of never knowing his daughter, who will become a dark presence in an otherwise elegantly orchestrated life, Haru decides he will respect Maud's wishes. His daughter grows to adulthood without ever knowing him. Is it too late to change things?"--

Book Synopsis

From the best-selling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes a family story with a difference, a novel about the decisions one makes and the destiny they determine by one of Europe's most brilliant and stylistically subtle authors.

Haru, a successful Japanese art dealer, loves beauty, harmony, art, balance, intriguing women, sophisticated conversation, and elegance. Months after a brief affair in Japan with a French woman, Maud, he discovers she is pregnant with his child. She warns him, however, that if he ever tries to see her or the child, she will kill herself. Quietly devastated at the thought of never knowing his daughter, who will become a dark presence in an otherwise elegantly orchestrated life, Haru decides he will respect Maud's wishes. His daughter grows to adulthood without ever knowing him. Is it too late to change things?

This is Haru's story. In her poetically precise prose, Muriel Barbery explores the deep love of a father, and what is gained and what is lost when one chooses a "family" of friends over one's biological family. In doing so, she captures the darkness that pushes people apart and the circumstances that can draw them together again.

Review Quotes

★ "Exquisite...Readers will be rapt."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Barbery's beautiful descriptions of nature and her infusion of Japanese folklore and wisdom give her story an elegant and meditative quality. With its many poetic observations on life, this is a perfect novel for book groups."--Booklist

"One Hour of Fervor is a zigzag journey through Haru's life, rewinding and fast-forwarding from chapter to chapter, leaving us a bit dizzy but thoroughly delighted."--The Boston Globe

"A eulogy to observation and patience."--La Croix

"In this beautifully written novel, translated from the French and filled with wondrous image-filled prose, themes are explored of love, of longing, of life, death, and what it means to continue on."--Under the Radar Magazine

"Magical, infused with poetry... A touching story about life's trials, encounters, and friendships."--Mademoiselle Lit

"With delicacy and compassion, Muriel Barbery paints the portrait of a man who loves beauty and others."--Madame Figaro

"If Muriel Barbery's sentences were stones, her books would be cathedrals. Her voice is a song, a rising prayer. She speaks the language of the stars... Moving and hopeful, One Hour of Fervor is a splendid novel about our relationship to others."--Le Figaro Littéraire

"A book of great beauty, imbued with poetry and melancholy."--RTL

"A delicate and impressionistic book."--Mode et travaux

"The writing unfolds like the stroke of a Japanese calligrapher: the relevance of each touch gives vividness to the story while retaining the breadth of poetry."--Sud Ouest

"A sober, poetic, and delicate diptych."--Le Journal du Dimanche

"An extremely gentle, extremely poetic book. Sad, luminous, and dark too... One Hour of Fervor is a marvel."--France Info

Praise for A Single Rose

"[A Single Rose] is interspersed with aphoristic Japanese tales from various periods, as melancholy is gradually transmuted into joy."--The New Yorker

"Barbery brings her usual lush descriptions to this slim novel, weaving traditional Japanese stories through the narrative. [A] luminous meditation on grief."--Booklist

"With elegant and careful prose, [Barbery] offers descriptions of Kyoto and Japanese culture that transcend the genre of a travelogue. This novel will appeal to readers who long for happy endings and escape."--Library Journal

"This novel offers the pleasures of a poetic travelogue and an homage to a place and culture. A Single Rose is a modern fairy tale... an evocative, transplanted retelling of the tale of a sleeping beauty."--New York Journal of Books

"This plaintive novel impresses with its smoothness."--Publishers Weekly

"It is a joy to take a stroll with Rose and Paul while savoring the beauty of camellias, peonies and wild irises, in a world of muted, delicate colors and to the sound of their elegant words."--Ouest-France

"Though A Single Rose is centered around vulnerable, tenacious Rose, its core is found in its Japanese setting. The novel balances lush, cultivated gardens and weighted symbolism with mischievous foxes, matcha, sliced eel, and sushi, all forming "one happy chaos" and a fascinating maze of emotional release."--Foreword Reviews

"A moving and successful novel. Richly perfumed, delicate, light, and inspired."--L'OBS

"In this story Rose explores an inner self that illuminates her darkness and leads her to overcome her sadness."--L'orient litteraire

"At once a journey through a secret landscape and a poetic transposition of the enigma of love."--Actualitté