Conceit
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Mary Novik's debut novel, Conceit (Doubleday 2007), is about Pegge Donne, the daughter of the Metaphysical poet John Donne, and is set in 17th century London. Other fictional characters based on historical people are Donne's wife Ann More, the diarist Samuel Pepys, and the fisherman Izaak Walton. Conceit has been praised for its "breathtaking ambition". It won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. It was chosen as a Book of the Year by both The Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire. Canada Reads named Conceit one of the Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade. From Wikipedia
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I tried, I really did. But at 200 pages I gave up the ghost. I'm not willing to blame this on the book - I love Donne's poetry but had little interest in reading about his romance with Anne. I didn't mind Pegge and was intrigued by her story enough to persist, but that's interrupted in the middle by the Romance between John and Anne. I ditched at page 200.
I think that in a different head space this book could be real fun.
I was blown away by Mary Novik's prose. I'm not surprised that she won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was long listed for the Giller Prize. Conceit starts with London on fire in the 17th century, a time when John Donne's poetry is flourishing. Her details about his daughters, his wife, and his conceit are riveting. I can't believe the kind of research that Mary Novik must've been done to bring this time and story to life. Highly recommend this book. Not only a look back at a time when the world was smaller in so many ways, but also at a time when love was as raw and layered as it is today. This is a book I wouldn't mind re-reading and that is an unusual thing for me to say.
