Thursday, June 14, 2007

Pg. 99: Emily Maguire's "Taming the Beast"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Emily Maguire's Taming the Beast.

About the book, from the author's website:

Sarah Clark's life is irrevocably changed at the age of fourteen when her English teacher, Mr Carr, seduces her after class. Their affair is illegal, erotic, passionate and dangerous - a vicious meeting of minds and bodies. But when Mr Carr's wife discovers the affair he has to choose between them and moves to another city with his family.

Sarah is devastated and from that day on her life is defined by a series of meaningless, self-abasing sexual encounters, hoping with each man that she will experience the same delicious feelings she had with Mr Carr.

Seven years later Daniel Carr walks back into Sarah's life and she is drawn once again into the destructive relationship. Is Sarah strong enough to 'tame the beast'?

Among the praise for Taming the Beast:
"A thought-provoking and often searing first novel."
The Age (Australia)

"...powerful and compelling..."
Kirkus Reviews

"Emily Maguire embodies the great romantic myth of the writer who emerges from nowhere, fully formed."
Sydney Morning Herald

"[S]ections of the book pulse with sexual energy… Maguire keeps the prose crackling and the dialogue lively from the first page to the last."
Publishers Weekly

"Emily Maguire [is] the new bad girl of erotic fiction..."
Esquire (UK)
Emily Maguire's first novel, Taming the Beast, was nominated for the Dylan Thomas Prize and received a Special Commendation in the Kathleen Mitchell Awards. Her latest novel, The Gospel According to Luke, "a witty contemporary morality tale bursting with lust, longing, and the meanings of life" is published in Australia by Brandl & Schlesinger and by Serpent's Tail in the UK.

Visit Maguire's website and read an excerpt from Taming the Beast.

The Page 99 Test: Taming the Beast.

--Marshal Zeringue