The Marriage Artist - by Andrew Winer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

When the wife of renowned art critic Daniel Lichtmann plunges to her death, she is not alone. Lying next to her is Benjamin Wind, the very artist Daniel most championed. Dedicating himself to uncovering the secrets of their relationship, Daniel discovers a web of mysteries leading back to pre--World War II Vienna. Ambitious, haunting, and stunningly written, The Marriage Artist is an "elaborate psycho-political-sexual puzzle, with...hard truths, startling visions, and eerie insights into the mystical and memorializing powers of art, and that endless hunger we call love" (Booklist).

Review Quotes

"Moves between lyricism and noir to hint at those mysteries less easily explained, such as the nature of identity--and the confounding bonds between husband and wife." --Vogue

"Intricately wrought. . . There are passages of great beauty tenderly delineating the mysteries of love and creativity." --The Washington Post

"A story that is engrossing and haunting. . . important." --The Salt Lake Tribune

"Powerful . . . ambitious . . . audacious." --Publishers Weekly (Starred review)

"A tour de force of provocative ideas . . . expressed through emotionally riveting characters." --Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)

"Andrew Winer is a formidable writer. He has erected an amazing Tower of Babel, a tower of history, love, marriage and art, Europe and America. In Winer's building, though, there is no confusion of languages--or only to the extent that it can fuel the masterful plot. This novel is a page-turner with a deeper meaning, a very rare amalgam indeed." --Adam Zagajewski, author of Eternal Enemies and A Defense of Ardor

"In this intricate and far-ranging novel, Andrew Winer writes brilliantly about art and love, history, debts that can and can't be paid, fatherhood in all its guises, the importance of bearing witness, the fragile border between mortality and immortality, the speakable and the unspeakable. The Marriage Artist weaves together the lives of characters, past and present, with consummate skill, and the result is an utterly absorbing and profound novel." --Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street

"A powerful intellect, fearless emotion, and gift for provocative metaphorical narrative, all drive this sweeping, unflaggingly intense novel. The Marriage Artist takes on big themes--love, death, faith, history--with a riveting mix of seriousness and enchantment." --Francisco Goldman, author of The Divine Husband

"Winer creates complex characters by sketching compelling portraits. . . The result is a story that is engrossing and haunting." --ABCnews.com

"Unforgettable . . . evocative . . . lyrical . . . The Marriage Artist gives us a reason to celebrate." --Bookpage

"A fearless examination of sexual power, love. . . hatred between fathers and sons, maternal instinct [and] grief." --The Rumpus

"A mystery, a romance and a ghost story, and the author is adept at weaving all of these narrative threads into a single compelling tale." --The Jewish Journal

"Breath-bating . . . a high-minded fusion of dark anti-love story and ethnographic detective fiction." --The Boston Globe

"An intense and complex examination of love. . . . a mystery that raises the question of how memory, identity and love are entangled." --Star Tribune

About the Author

Andrew Winer is the author of The Marriage Artist and The Color Midnight Made. Formerly an artist who wrote art criticism, he teaches at the University of California, Riverside, where he has directed the MFA program in creative writing. He is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction and is married to the writer Charmaine Craig, with whom he has two daughters.