08318cam a2200541 4500 273276040 TxAuBib 20160930120000.0 ||||||s2016||||||||||||||||||||||||und|u 9780062437532 0062437534 B01A5CB3FS Amazon cd106c16-d67e-4296-8112-ef9de134ce0d OverDrive (Reserve ID) 2546297 OverDrive (Product ID) 2546297 OverDrive (Product ID) TxAuBib Livesey, Margot. Mercury [Libby] : A Novel. HarperCollins, 2016. Format: OverDrive Adobe EPUB eBook, Filesize: 528kB. Format: OverDrive Kindle Book. Format: OverDrive OverDrive Read, Filesize: 528kB. Fiction. Literature. Thriller. "Consuming.... Explores themes of honesty and understanding by showing the impact that obsessions-grief, rapacity-can have on a marriage.". HTML:New Yorker. "MERCURY explores that thrilling, terrifying moment when grief turns blind, when passion becomes obsession. As always, Livesey tells her tale masterfully, with intelligence, tenderness and a shrewd understanding of all our mercurial human impulses.". Lily King, author of EUPHORIA. "You'll be glued to the page.". HTML:People, Pick of the Week. "Livesey's story of loyalty, deceit, ambition, and moral ambiguity is a read-in-one-sitting, sublimely nuanced psychological exploration of personal ethics and responsibility ideal for book-discussion groups.". HTML:Carol Haggas, Booklist. "Step by step, Livesey brilliantly assembles a truly painful and frightening picture of delusion.... I cannot in good conscience reveal more of the plot. I came to this story in a state of innocence, and I feel that its terrific power depended in great part on the gradual unfolding of unlooked-for events.". Katherine A. Powers, Barnes and Noble review. "MERCURY is a haunting, meticulous inquiry into the nature of blindness-its insidious power to corrupt marital trust, even between those with perfect vision. Margot Livesey is a searingly intelligent writer at the height of her powers.". Jennifer Egan, author of A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD. "A fiercely intelligent exploration of the ways blindness — to ourselves, others, and the power of passion and grief — can divide us and transform us.... Livesey's skillful play with the title's many meanings... gives her narrative a rich imagery that interweaves seamlessly with its textured evocation of everyday life.". HTML:Publishers Weekly. "MERCURY is as luminous, unforgettable, and perfectly rendered as only Margot Livesey can accomplish. I only wished it were twice as long.". Dennis Lehane, author of WORLD GONE BY. "The mid-life crisis takes many forms, some familiar, some wildly unexpected. Livesey, in her riveting novel MERCURY, portrays a couple in their season of crisis. Patiently, precisely, she unfolds the layers of their drama, at once quiet and extreme. She'll make you wonder how well you know your spouse.". Claire Messud, author of THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS. "The inimitable Margot Livesey has written an unforgettable story of a couple in the midst of their marriage's dissolution. No one has a better understanding of human nature.". HTML:Lit Hub. "No one plumbs the depths of ordinary human folly and its consequences like the brilliantly perceptive Margot Livesey. Be prepared: MERCURY will take you on quite a ride.". Julia Glass, author of AND THE DARK SACRED NIGHT. "MERCURY demonstrates Tolstoy's dictum: all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. The Stevensons find themselves upended by a horse — a magnificent horse that sets off a chain of deceit and crime. This powerful novel reveals the fragility of life when tested by the shock of genuine passion.". Ben Fountain, author of BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK. "[A] probing study of the way character shapes our destinies.... Livesey, a Scottish transplant whose brilliant novels are underknown in her adopted country.... A sharply sketched supporting cast adds to the depth and cumulative power... yet more evidence of Livesey's formidable gifts.". HTML:Kirkus, starred review. "Livesey has a penchant for creating a sense of foreboding in her novels.... A tangled morality tale not about a horse but about a marriage and friendships disintegrating under the steady drip of secrets and half-truths.". HTML:Sally Bissell, Library Journal. HTML:July 11, 2016 Livesey’s latest (following The Flight of Gemma Hardy) is a fiercely intelligent exploration of the ways blindness—to ourselves, others, and the power of passion and grief—can divide and transform us. After his father dies of Parkinson’s, optometrist Donald Stevenson’s reserve deepens into what Viv, his wife of nine years, likens to the airless impenetrability of an astronaut’s suit. Viv’s teenage dreams of equestrian competition resurface when Mercury, an exceptionally promising thoroughbred, comes to board at the suburban Boston stable she helps run. Donald; Viv’s boss, Claudia; and Mercury’s owner, Hilary, assume that Viv accepts the obvious: Mercury is not hers to risk, compete on, or control. Facing their resistance to her growing obsession and increasingly distanced from Donald, Viv conceals the time and money she lavishes on the horse. When the stable is repeatedly broken into, she fears that telling Claudia or Hilary will lead to Mercury’s removal. Instead, she buys a gun. Seen primarily from Donald’s muffled, sometimes pedantic perspective, the novel unfolds patiently, through a chain of small and mostly well-intentioned deceptions that nevertheless yield catastrophe. Livesey’s skillful play with the title’s many meanings—trickster god of speed, diagnostic aid, minor planet, deadly poison—gives her narrative a rich imagery that interweaves seamlessly with its textured evocation of everyday life.. Publisher's Weekly. HTML:Donald believes he knows all there is to know about seeing. An optometrist in suburban Boston, he is sure that he and his wife, Viv, who runs the local stables, are both devoted to their two children and to each other. Then Mercury—a gorgeous young thoroughbred with a murky past—arrives at Windy Hill and everything changes. Mercury's owner, Hilary, is a newcomer to town who has enrolled her daughter in riding lessons. When she brings Mercury to board at Windy Hill, everyone is struck by his beauty and prowess, particularly Viv. As she rides him, Viv begins to dream of competing again, embracing the ambitions that she had harbored, and relinquished, as a young woman. Her daydreams soon morph into consuming desire, and her infatuation with the thoroughbred escalates to obsession. Donald may have 20/20 vision but he is slow to notice how profoundly Viv has changed and how these changes threaten their quiet, secure world. By the time he does, it is too late to stop the catastrophic collision of Viv's ambitions and his own myopia. At once a tense psychological drama and a taut emotional thriller exploring love, obsession, and the deceits that pull a family apart, Mercury is a riveting tour de force that showcases this "searingly intelligent writer at the height of her powers" (Jennifer Egan).. Media Type: eBook. Importer Version: 2014-01-08.01 Import Date: 2016-09-30 23:00:02. http://lonestardigitalibrary.lib.overdrive.com/ContentDetails.htm?ID=cd106c16-d67e-4296-8112-ef9de134ce0d http://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=cd106c16-d67e-4296-8112-ef9de134ce0d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com Excerpt (Adobe EPUB eBook) http://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=cd106c16-d67e-4296-8112-ef9de134ce0d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com Excerpt (Kindle Book) http://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=cd106c16-d67e-4296-8112-ef9de134ce0d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com Excerpt (OverDrive Read) TXPLE