The
Listener
A New Novel from Shira Nayman
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Description
TWO YEARS AFTER THE END OF WORLD WAR II, a mysterious
figure, Bertram Reiner, appears at Shadowbrook, a private asylum
whose elegant hallways, vaulted ceilings, and magnificent grounds
suggest a country estate more than a psychiatric hospital. At
first, the chief psychiatrist -- as genteel as his aristocratic
surrounds -- considers his charismatic patient to be a classic,
though particularly intriguing, case of war neurosis. But as treatment
progresses, Dr. Harrison's sense of clarity clouds over, and he
is drawn into Bertram's disquieting preoccupations.
Then, late one night, an intruder is sighted on
the hospital grounds, the first in a series of uncanny events
that appear to the doctor to be strangely linked; clues abound,
yet the truth about Bertram seems always to slip away. Meanwhile,
Dr. Harrison's own long-buried troubles reemerge with brutal force.
As the careful contours of his existence begin to waver, the doctor
is plunged into dangerous, compulsive territory.
When Dr. Harrison finds himself spying on his head
nurse, Matilda, even following her one midnight through the underground
tunnels that join the hospital buildings, he knows there is no
turning back. He is desperate to get to the bottom of the intertwining
mysteries connecting Bertram, Matilda, and himself, and senses
that everything in his life -- and theirs -- is at stake.
Set against the backdrop of the insanity of war,
The Listener explores the havoc historical trauma plays
with the psyche, and illuminates the uncertain boundary between
sanity and insanity. Shira Nayman's storytelling is mesmerizing.
The Listener is a riveting tale of madness, mystery,
and passion that excavates the dark corners of the human heart
and mind. It is a work of rare depth and power.
Praise for The Listener
“The madness of war, even after war is over,
envelops everyone in this well-paced psychological thriller.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Shira Nayman, the author whose collection
of short stories, Awake in the Dark, first won her acclaim
five years ago, captivates in this haunting debut historical
novel…The surroundings are familiar to Nayman,
a clinical psychologist who’s worked in psychiatric hospitals,
and her expertise shows.”
—The Daily Beast
“Nayman has written a first novel alive
with turbulence.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Dark, obsessive …vividly imagined
and evoked.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Word for word, sentence for sentence, paragraph
for paragraph, Nayman creates a gripping narrative with style
and depth… Nayman paces the narrative well, with
thick, sensuous writing throughout, developing each character
with a compelling reality. Much like her collection of
short stories, Awake in the Dark, this novel continues
to explore the ways in which individuals negotiate and construct
their sense of identity. Featuring a plot as rich as the characters,
this is a thought-provoking and psychological exploration of love,
war, and human identity… [for] readers who enjoyed Ian McEwan’s
Atonement.”
—Library Journal
“[THE LISTENER’S] probing analysis of
the line between sanity and insanity and the questioning of the
rules that govern the patient-doctor relationship are consistently
intriguing.”
—Booklist
“There is a Gothic feel to this story with
the haunted grounds of Shadowbrook making an eerie setting. While
the book is a historical, it has even a greater sense of time
travel to it when it travels to an opium den. There is more to
the Gothic nature then the setting: it extends to the way the
characters interact and to the atmosphere established by the dialog.”
—Book Group Buzz, Booklist blog
With U.S. involvement in Afghanistan ramping up,
examining the effects of war on the psyche has never seemed more
important. Shira Nayman churns up past complications of both World
Wars in her new novel. … She purposely blurs the line between
sanity and insanity not only to engage readers in solving the
plot's mysteries but also to underscore that when war is involved,
the line is always blurry.
—The Miami Herald
On the last page of Shira Nayman’s dark and probing psychological
thriller, Dr. Henry Harrison awakens from a deep sleep to one
startling thought: “Doctor, heal thyself.” The reader
has sensed this all along; the doctor is not well, his sanity
and madness inextricably connected. It’s a testament to
Nayman’s skill that Harrison’s final realization affects
us anew.
The Listener is, at its core, a story of listening, of narration—the
lies we tell, the plots and characters we invent. But it is also
an honest look at the way trauma and violence afflict an entire
generation’s psyche, the way war is a disease that lasts
well after the weapons have been laid down. This intelligent and
unexpected novel is set in the 1940s, but its message is just
as true today.
—Bookpage.com
PRAISE FROM AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Shira Nayman’s first novel is full of echoes and resonances.
There may even be an echo of Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader.
…. The plot is skilful and shrewdly deployed…very
suspenseful.
—The Australian Book Review
[M]ore knowing about the nature of psychiatric hospitals than
others…At least part of [Nayman’s] purpose is the
very humane one of reminding medical people that they are not
little gods and that their patients are fully human.
—New Zealand Sunday Star Times
[C]reates a powerfully claustrophobic and paranoid
atmosphere where the truth is slippery and no one’s sanity
is certain. Verdict: listen closely.
—Herald Sun
There is much to admire in this authentically dark
portrait of madness inspired by the insanity of war.
—Canberra Times
Nayman is compelling when she writes about the issues
the book raises: the psychiatrist-patient relationship, of complicity
in times of war and of probity in human relations.
—Weekend Australian
The Listener is a novel that makes a mystery out
of one man’s insanity and duplicity and another’s
obsession with him.
—Sydney Morning Herald
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Copyright © 2010 by Shira
Nayman |
