 Immanion Press, 2009 Read the first chapter See linocut prints from the book paperback: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell's ebook: Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes & Noble | The
cover of a book is a portal you open at your peril, peering into the
gloom between ornate jambs. What moonlit ripple in those shadows, what
damsels . . . “Balthazar, book thief and bon vivant, arrives in Alexandria to steal from the famous library. But from the moment he steps off the boat, a veiled figure shadows him. Zeinab, literary prostitute and avenging ghost, will be his chaperone through the city of books. With her help, he succeeds in penetrating the underground library. But once inside, instead of ransacking it, he becomes obsessed with the youngest librarian, Shireen, who was born in the library and is herself more than half book. Their love story forms the heart of the novel. Balthazar schemes to get Shireen out of the library. But Zeinab has plans of her own . . . “In sumptuous, evocative prose, The Book on Fire explores the relationships between creation and destruction, between belief and imagination, between desire and fulfillment.” "Miller weaves a tale that is as smart as it is exciting. For a story about books, it is surprisingly fast-paced, full of adventure and suspense, mysterious to its last page. I haven't been so thoroughly moved by the influence of books since reading Fahrenheit 451." — RAMBLES "As in his previous book, Miller has sculpted a work that is a story, poetry, humor and verbal beauty . . . A must read for any book lover, The Book on Fire is another masterpiece . . . and one that should be on your book shelf." — FAST FORWARD TV "I love the music of the words, and the way the books are like magnets . . . with lives of their own." winner, Edward R. Murrow National Award for Writing "It reminded me of Pamuk's My Name is Red, that crazy, obsessive and sinister exploration of Istanbul. [The Book on Fire] is beautifully written and sensuous; its energy and delirium explodes and gives Alexandria a new fantastical dimension." — MICHAEL HAAG author of Alexandria: City of Memory "[A] pure, uncut fix of bibliophilia . . . The Book on Fire takes the reader to the edge." — JOHN MIEDEMA author of Slow Reading "This Alexandria, not a city of memory but of imagination, is wonderful with its lighthouse and library still intact, the modern Egyptian streets and smells and foods so vividly evoked. It's a book of wonderful, consuming obsession . . . The Book on Fire is essential reading for anyone who loved Robert Irwin's The Arabian Nightmare or Durrell's Quartet, yet also it's entirely its own book. 'A book is a world,' says the book thief narrator. What a world Keith Miller's is, gritty, surreal, intoxicating, full of wisdoms and madnesses, and always a terrible beauty deranging the senses." — IAN WATSON screenwriter, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence |