Happy On-Sale Date for THE HORSES OF ST. MARK'S and THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD!

Today two brand-new books were born--or, perhaps more accurately, officially put on shelves at bookstores nationwide, with their Amazon pre-order buttons changed to allow customers to "buy it now." Hooray! In case you haven't been following our pre-publication coverage of these two great but extremely different titles, let me introduce you to them.

The Horses of St. Mark's: A Story of Triumph in Byzantium, Paris, and Venice
by Charles Freeman

A must-see for any tourist in Venice, the history of these four beautiful statues is even more interesting than one might think. They witnessed some of Western history's most significant events--the founding and sacking of Constantinople, the height of the Venetian republic and its fall, and Paris under Napoleon through the revolution in 1848. Making their way back to Venice, the rich backstory of these storied statues is a must-read for those interested in history, art, travel--or just interested in a fascinating tale that Charles Freeman, author of A.D. 381, brings vividly to life.


The Caretaker of Lorne Field
by Dave Zeltserman

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called The Caretaker of Lorne Field a "superb mix of humor and horror." The dark humor and noirish horror combine in this unique take on the genre--the tale of Jack Durkin, the ninth generation of the Durkin family, who has weeded Lorne Field for hundreds of years. He's stuck there until his son comes of age because he knows a monster will grow--one capable of destroying a country in weeks--if the field is left untended. Or will it? In the words of Locus Magazine, Zeltserman's "black comedy of errors ... invites comparison to stories by Kafka, David Prill, James Hynes, William Browning Spencer, and other authors who have mused on the dark side of daily breadwinning."

Book reviewing bloggers--interested in reviewing? Email Kate at kgales@overlookny.com for a review copy.

Happy reading, everyone!

THE HORSES OF ST. MARK'S Reviewed in Publishers Weekly

Charles Freeman's lively history of the world's most famous statues and their turbulent movements, The Horses of St. Mark's, is reviewed in Publishers Weekly: "After Napoleon triumphed over Venice in 1798, he demonstrated his strength by plundering the city-state’s greatest treasures, including a set of four Greek or Roman gilded copper horses (their precise origins are not known) adorning St. Mark’s loggia and sending them straight to Paris. According to Freeman (A.D. 381), the horses were prime booty, symbolizing wealth, cultural assets, and military prowess. Thus, they were periodically looted by history’s victors, going first to Constantinople and then to Venice after its defeat of the declining Byzantine capital in 1204. After Napoleon’s fall, Venice recovered the horses from Paris. Despite Freeman’s efforts, too much remains unknown about the horses (such as how Constantinople originally obtained them), and the statues become almost peripheral to the narrative of the political and cultural environments of the 13th to 19th centuries. Freeman supposes the horses may have inspired artists such as Paolo Uccello and Dürer, who visited Venice. Most compelling for devout lovers of art and European history, Freeman effectively and ironically juxtaposes the horses’ location (atop a church) with the violence that punctuated their role as “plundered plunder.”