Giants' Bread

Born into the genteel comfort of an Edwardian country house, Vernon Deyre grows up haunted by a hunger no ordinary life can satisfy-a consuming need to create music of transcendent power. His childhood friendships, his loves, and his wars all leave their marks, but none can quiet the relentless drive within him. Through the upheaval of the Great War and the wreckage it leaves behind, Vernon pursues an elusive vision of greatness, sacrificing marriage, loyalty, and finally his own identity in its service. The women who love him-steady, devoted Nell and the luminous, tragic Josephine-can no more hold him than they can hold the wind. Part coming-of-age story, part meditation on the price of genius, this richly observed novel asks what a man owes to those who love him-and whether greatness and happiness can ever share the same life.