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The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (Vintage Contemporaries)
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About The Boy With The Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Product Description INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A wildly original, fantastical adventure of love and heartbreak—and an animated movie, Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart—that takes us from Edinburgh to Paris to Andalusia to tell the story of a boy who discovers the great joys and ultimately the greater costs, of owning a fully formed heart. Edinburgh, 1874. Born with a frozen heart, Jack is near death when his mother abandons him to the care of Dr. Madeleine—witch doctor, midwife, protector of orphans—who saves Jack by placing a cuckoo clock in his chest. And it is in her orphanage that Jack grows up among tear-filled flasks, eggs containing memories, and a man with a musical spine. As Jack gets older, Dr. Madeleine warns him that his heart is too fragile for strong emotions: he must never, ever fall in love. And, of course, this is exactly what he does: on his tenth birthday and with head-over-heels abandon. The object of his ardor is Miss Acacia—a bespectacled young street performer with a soul-stirring voice. But now Jack’s life is doubly at risk—his heart is in danger and so is his safety after he injures the school bully in a fight for the affections of the beautiful singer. Review “A fantastic voyage . . . A whimsical fairy-tale of a book—for adults . . . It’s like a dark version of Alice in Wonderland or Pinocchio . . . A quick and entertaining read that people who like fantasy-fiction and folk tales will appreciate." —Houston Chronicle “The brilliance of this gothic-punk novella, sparkling with imagery filtered through the prism of French film-makers Jeunet and Caro, is in the telling: Malzieu’s prose is distinctly original, spitting and fizzing with unique similes and striking metaphors, wonderfully translated by Sarah Ardizzone." —The Guardian “A little literary miracle." —Glamour (Paris) “[A] fantastical European journey of love and discovery." —Billy Heller, New York Post “Required Reading” “Malzieu has a gift for unexpected and strong images." —Elle (Paris) “Malzieu sketches European landscapes and crafts figurative language with irresistible relish . . . Calling to mind a host of cultural touchstones, from Pinocchio to The Wizard of Oz, this kaleidoscopic picaresque will enchant many adults and young people alike." —Publishers Weekly “A dreamlike and spellbinding novel." —Le Figaro Littéraire (Paris) “Malzieu uses vivid metaphors and fantastical inventions to craft a beautifully written tale of love, both maternal and romantic . . . The prose style is simple and fluid, and the setting is not unlike a Tim Burton film—dreamy, dark, and magical—so it’s no surprise that this novel is being adapted into an animated film. For fans of magical realism and fairy tales." —Library Journal “A fairy tale jeu d’esprit, but charming all the same." —Metro (UK) About the Author MATHIAS MALZIEU is the lead singer of the French band Dionysos. The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is the basis for an album that Malzieu wrote, and he is codirector of an animated feature-film adaptation produced by Luc Besson. This is his third novel and the first to be translated into English. Born in 1974 near Montpelier, Malzieu now lives in Paris. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One In which Little Jack is born on the coldest day on earth and miraculously resuscitated It’s snowing over Edinburgh on this 16th day of April, 1874. An eerie, freezing cold gridlocks the city. Old people wonder whether this might be the coldest day on earth. The sun seems to have disappeared for good. There’s a biting wind, snowflakes lighter than air. WHITE! WHITE! WHITE! A muffled explosion. This is all we can see. Houses resemble steam engines, as the gray smoke exhaled by their chimneys sparkles in the steel sky. Edinburgh and its steep streets are being transformed. Fountains metamorphose, one by one, into bouquets of ice. The old river, usually so serious, is disguised as an icing sugar lake that stretches all the way
