The Painter of Battles
ABOUT
THE BOOK
A man lives alone in a watchtower by the sea. On the circular walls of the tower he is painting a grand mural – the timeless landscape of a battle. He is a former war photographer, and the painting is his attempt to capture the photo he was never able to take; to encapsulate, in an instant, the meaning of war. But one day a stranger knocks on his door and announces that he has come to kill him. The man is a shadow from his past, one of the myriad faces of war, and now the consequences of his actions are brought home to him. As the novel progresses, the story of both the soldier and the artist emerge, entwined with a doomed love affair, and the progress of a painting that is infused with the history of art.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Margaret
Sayers Peden
Margaret Sayers Peden (May 10, 1927 – July 5, 2020) was an American translator and professor emerita of Spanish at the University of Missouri. Prior to her death in 2020, Peden lived and worked in Columbia, Missouri.
Margaret Sayers Peden (May 10, 1927 – July 5, 2020) was an American translator and professor emerita of Spanish at the University of Missouri. Prior to her death in 2020, Peden lived and worked in Columbia, Missouri.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
In a novel of both dark and philosophical tone, expressed in meticulous details, the author reveals a deep knowledge of the human soul and the complexities of the XX century. Life and death are analysed in a very accomplished story.