A poet residing at the Irish College in Paris has a series of dreams in which he flies to the rooftop of Notre-Dame cathedral and encounters a gargoyle. But not any old gargoyle: this one can speak, and he claims to be a lost spirit seeking salvation through a series of incarnations. Gargoyle and Poet become unlikely companions, bound by a pact: in return for the poet’s visits and conversations on the great questions of life (conversations he hopes will free him from his stone incarceration), Gargoyle promises to reveal the answer to the question obsessing Poet: who or what caused the great fire of Notre-Dame in 2019.
‘I galloped through as if pulled by a silver thread. I loved the journey, the conversations, Gargoyle and his grumpiness and those storms over Paris. I was caught between having my breath taken away and wanting to gallop on with the story. The ending is sublime.’ Alyson Hallett.
‘The Gospel of Gargoyle is a mighty dialogue of self and soul, a drama, a small epic …The ending is a little electric shock.’ from the Afterword by Penelope Buckley
Art by Paul Ó Colmáin
PRAISE FOR HARPUR’S POETRY:
‘The White Silhouette is a resonant, moving pilgrimage of great beauty.’ Martina Evans, The Irish Times, Books of the Year
‘His brilliant imagery and luxuriant natural descriptions offer plenty to enjoy.’ Sarah Crown, The Guardian
‘I have rarely encountered a contemporary voice that brings out as strongly and convincingly as does James Harpur’s in The White Silhouette the way in which spiritual wrestlings and traditions can live again in poetry.’ Michael O’Neill, London Magazine