Conceit
"St Paul's cathedral stands like a cornered beast on Ludgate hill, taking deep breaths above the smoke. The fire has made terrifying progress in the night and is closing in on the ancient monument from three directions. Built of massive stones, the cathedral is held to be invincible, but suddenly Pegge sees what the flames covet: the two hundred and fifty feet of scaffolding erected around the broken tower. Once the flames have a foothold on the wooden scaffolds, they can jump to the lead roof, and once the timbers burn and the vaulting cracks, the cathedral will be toppled by its own mass, a royal bear brought down by common dogs." (p.9)
It is the Great Fire of 1666. The…
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July 29, 2008
Called "a magnificent novel of seventeenth-century London" by The Globe and Mail, Mary Novik's debut novel Conceit was warmly received by book clubs and chosen as a Book of the Year by both Quill & Quire and The Globe and Mail. It was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller and won The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Canada Reads named Conceit one of the Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade.
Mary Novik was raised in a large family in Victoria, British Columbia, and has been passionate about books and travel all her life. Mary was inspired to write Conceit when she was visiting St. Paul's Cathedral in London and discovered that John Donne's effigy was the only monument that survived…
