Robert Hillyer
Published: 2022-10-29
Total Pages: 230
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Paris, 1919. A young American officer named Edward falls in love with a French girl named Germaine and tries to convince her to marry him. But Germaine keeps avoiding the question. Germaine is sweet and lovely, but also opinionated and immature. She's the perfect companion for Paris night life -- and a master at posing as different people and telling white lies that amuse and confuse her boyfriend. She's a poet ... or is she? Is she too whimsical and crazy for a conventional-minded man like Edward? Or is Edward too narrow-minded? Maybe they are not really in love. Or maybe Edward's suspicions are ruining everything. This beautiful and brooding novel explores the blossoming relationship and the doubts that threaten to derail it. Can they transform the initial spark into something more lasting? Described by New York Times as a "superbly written book, written perhaps as only a poet with and expert in the discipline of verse could write," this overlooked 1942 novel by Pulitzer-winning poet Robert Hillyer is now available as an ebook. This edition includes lots of bonus material: a long biographical portrait of the author, an examination of the novel's major themes, a discussion of the novel's ambiguities and parallels between the life of the protagonist and Hillyer himself (who volunteered for the ambulance corps during WW1 and shared a Paris flat with novelist John Dos Passos). This edition also includes a sampling of poetry Hillyer wrote while living in Europe. My Heart for Hostage, wrote Brad Bigelow of Neglectedbooks.com, "... is perhaps the closest thing to a neglected masterpiece I’ve come across. I cannot recommend it too highly." It's a love story which combines the witty social commentary of an Oscar Wilde novel with the stylistic precision of Flaubert and the psychological realism of Edith Wharton or Henry James.
