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From the back cover: “Bestselling author Michel Faber has created unique dramas in these tender, wise, and often funny tales of isolated people in wholly original settings. Faber’s rich imagination is keenly in play as his inventive characters come together to unearth a long-hidden murder mystery surrounding an ancient monument, work out artistic and sexual differences as they rehearse one of the most challenging musical pieces ever written, and create strange civilizations when left to their own devices.”
If you’ve asked me for a non-Buddhist book recommendation in the last year, chances are I’ve told you to run-not-walk to get The Crimson Petal and the White, Faber’s hefty novel whose protagonist — Sugar, a Victorian prostitute — provides entre into a richly-wrought England filled with intriguing characters. Faber’s writing is captivating and damn near perfect in every way, so when I decided to stock up on books that would remind me how much I love reading, ordering everything he’s ever written from Amazon seemed like a fairly obvious move.
The Courage Consort is a collection of three novellas, the title work joined by The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps and The Fahrenheit Twins. I’m nearly at a loss for words, trying to describe Faber’s brilliance…I’ve already typed and erased three versions of the sentence: “It’s like [author] meets [author] meets [author] meets [hot fudge sundaes]” but it’s really impossible to do Mr. Faber justice. Do yourself a solid and join me for the Summer of Faber, ok? Go get Crimson Petal, and when you panic half-way through its 1000+ pages because IT CAN’T BE OVER WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN IT’S OVER IT MUST GO ON FOREVER, order The Courage Consort and try to breathe deeply.