Ysabel - by Guy Gavriel Kay (Paperback)

About the Book

"Saint-Saveur Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence is an ancient structure of many secrets-a perfect monument to fill the lens of a celebrated photographer, and a perfect place for the photographer's son, Ned Marriner, to lose himself while his father works. But the cathedral isn't the empty edifice it appears to be. Its history is very much alive in the present day-and it's calling out to Ned."--Publisher description.

Book Synopsis

The multiple award-winning fantasy author of The Fionavar Tapestry brings his extraordinary imagination to a tale of mythic figures in contemporary times...

Ned Marriner is in France with his father, a celebrated photographer shooting the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence. While exploring the cathedral, Ned meets Kate, an American exchange student with a deep knowledge of the area's history. But even Kate is at a loss when she and Ned surprise a scar-faced stranger, wearing a leather jacket and carrying a knife. "I think you ought to go now," he tells them. "You have blundered into a corner of a very old story..."

In this ancient place, where the borders between the living and the long-dead are thin, Ned and his family are about to be drawn into a haunted story, as mythic figures from conflicts of long ago erupt into the present, changing--and claiming--lives.

Review Quotes

Praise for Ysabel

"Will enthrall mainstream as well as fantasy readers."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Ysabel is beyond honed. It reads like a perfectly cut jewel...It is very much like a great classic Hollywood film."--Science Fiction Weekly

"[Kay] turns out quality work every time. Ysabel is another testament to his storytelling skill."--The Davis Enterprise

"Outstanding characters, folklore, and action add up to another Kay must-read."--Booklist

"Kay constructs a suspenseful narrative, and he uses the atmosphere of Provence to good effect."--The Toronto Star

"Encapsulates my experience of reading Kay's work--that the sense of loss experienced when his world slips away and his tale is told will be profound, but the beauty of the experience is worth that loss."--Fantasy & Science Fiction

More Praise for the Novels of Guy Gavriel Kay

"[Read] anything by Guy Gavriel Kay...His strengths are strong characters and fantastic set pieces."--The New Yorker

"History and fantasy rarely come together as gracefully or readably as they do in the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay."--The Washington Post Book World

"Kay shows why he's the heir to Tolkien's tradition."--Booklist

"Kay is a genius. I've read him all my life and am always inspired by his work."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson

"A storyteller on the grandest scale."--Time Magazine, Canada

About the Author

Guy Gavriel Kay is the international bestselling author of numerous fantasy novels including The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, Tigana, The Last Light of the Sun, Under Heaven, River of Stars, and Children of Earth and Sky. He has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his work in the literature of the fantastic, and won the World Fantasy Award for Ysabel in 2008. In 2014 he was named to the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor. His works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages.