The Painter of Battles
A Novel
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The Painter of Battles
Narrated by:
Simon Vance
Buy Now for $22.19
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
About this listen
Andrés Faulques, a world-renowned war photographer, has retired to a life of solitude on the Spanish coast. He spends his days painting a huge mural that pays homage to history’s classic works of war art and that incorporates a lifetime of disturbing images.
One night, an unexpected visitor arrives at Faulques’ door and challenges the painter to remember him. As Faulques struggles to recall the face, the man explains that he was the subject of an iconic photo taken by Faulques in a war zone years ago. “And why have you come looking for me?” asks Faulques. The stranger answers, “Because I’m going to kill you.”
This story transports Faulques to the time when he crossed continents to capture conflicts on film with his lover, Olvido, at his side. Until she walked into his life, Faulques muses, he had believed he would survive both war and women.
As the tense dialogue between Faulques and his visitor continues, the stakes grow ever higher. What they are grappling with quickly proves to be not just Faulques’ fate but the very nature of human love and cruelty itself, in this stunning composition on morality. Superb and tautly written, The Painter of Battles is a deeply affecting audiobook about life and art.
Critic Reviews
“[Pérez-Reverte’s] best book yet . . . a game of mental chess, an excursion into art, history and imagination.”
–The Times (London)
“A remarkable achievement. Not only does the clash of ideas and emotions echo after you have turned the last page–this novel will change what you see in images from datelines around the world.”
–Scott Simon, author of Pretty Birds
“Arturo Pérez-Reverte has established himself as the master of the intellectual thriller.”
–Chicago Tribune
“[A] taut literary thriller [with] meticulous detail and dark, brooding tone.”
–Publishers Weekly
“A gripping story of war, cruelty, testimony, and the past . . . Arturo Pérez-Reverte is the great European storyteller of the 21st century.”
–Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young Stalin
“Reminds American readers of the sublime rhetoric of Faulkner and how such passages in the hands of a master can add to the momentum of the story.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“A tour de force [that] explores the great themes of human existence.”
–The Australian
–The Times (London)
“A remarkable achievement. Not only does the clash of ideas and emotions echo after you have turned the last page–this novel will change what you see in images from datelines around the world.”
–Scott Simon, author of Pretty Birds
“Arturo Pérez-Reverte has established himself as the master of the intellectual thriller.”
–Chicago Tribune
“[A] taut literary thriller [with] meticulous detail and dark, brooding tone.”
–Publishers Weekly
“A gripping story of war, cruelty, testimony, and the past . . . Arturo Pérez-Reverte is the great European storyteller of the 21st century.”
–Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young Stalin
“Reminds American readers of the sublime rhetoric of Faulkner and how such passages in the hands of a master can add to the momentum of the story.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“A tour de force [that] explores the great themes of human existence.”
–The Australian
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