Warrener's Beastie

by Trotter, William R.

• ISBN13: 9780786713288
• ISBN10: 0786713283
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-13
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

In this magnificent modern rendering of a classic Norse myth, award-winning writer William Trotter transports the reader to faraway Vardinoy in the exotic Faeroe Islands, the remote Scandinavian locale that has bewitched Allen Warrener since his first and only visit there twenty years before. Now middle-aged, Allen decides that to revitalize his wearisome existence he must return to Vardinoy, the island that has haunted and inspired him for most of his life and so wanders unwittingly into circumstances far more sinister, and potentially far more dangerous, than he ever could have supposed. Among the many temptations and risks of this increasingly mystifying land there is the creature, the legendary undersea monster that becomes a metaphor as captivatingly elusive as the Golden Fleece; Andreas Dahl, a famous painter, whose appearance on the island seems too fortuitous a coincidence; and Elsuba, the woman who still mesmerizes Allen even decades after their affair. Uncommonly suspenseful and richly atmospheric, Warrener's Beastie is a hypnotic literary adventure that will entrance readers even as it reminds them to be careful about what they wish for.

Table of Contents

BOOK I: INTIMATIONS
Chapter 1. The Wonders of Earth, Sea, and Sky	3	(13)
Chapter 2. Funny Valentine	16	(5)
Chapter 3. Lapland Fever	21	(21)
Chapter 4. Pipe Dreams	42	(28)
Chapter 5. The War Memorial in Torshavn	70	(16)
Chapter 6. Viking Graves	86	(25)
BOOK II: NOSTALGIA AIN'T WHAT IT USED To BE
Chapter 7. Glory Denied	111	(9)
Chapter 8. Well, I Could Have Gone to Woodstock	120	(17)
Chapter 9. Becalmed in the Boondocks	137	(20)
Chapter 10. Better Late Than Never	157	(12)
Chapter 11. Why Don't You Come Up and See My Monsters?	169	(9)
Chapter 12. Valentine's Day (Is Spoiled)	178	(19)
Chapter 13. Karen Reads the Mail of Her Male	197	(19)
Chapter 14. The Scientific Establishment Refutes Heresy	216	(7)
Chapter 15. We're Getting Our Act Together and Taking It to Sea	223	(21)
Chapter 16. Giganticus, the Manatee	244	(11)
BOOK III: VOYAGES
Chapter 17. The Eventful Voyage of the Crown Prince Frederick	255	(18)
Chapter 18. Welcome to Torshavn!	273	(21)
Chapter 19. Old Salt	294	(25)
BOOK IV: PETROGLYPHS
Chapter 20. Landfall, Vardinoy	319	(25)
Chapter 21. The Axe-Cuts	344	(24)
Chapter 22. Art Lessons	368	(10)
Chapter 23. Echograms and Ruins	378	(27)
Chapter 24. A Reconnaissance in Niflheim	405	(7)
Chapter 25. Vardinoy, End of the Sixteenth Day	412	(11)
Chapter 26. A Visit to the Doctor	423	(12)
Chapter 27. The Whale-Killing	435	(9)
Chapter 28. Chain Dance	444	(22)
Chapter 29. Eiden and Karen	466	(8)
Chapter 30. Councils	474	(9)
Chapter 31. Litmus Test	483	(15)
Chapter 32. Night of the Storm	498	(25)
BOOK V: RAGNAROK
Chapter 33. Bones on the Bottom	523	(11)
Chapter 34. Disturbances in the Earth	534	(12)
Chapter 35. Flares	546	(19)
Chapter 36. Catechism	565	(23)
Chapter 37. Karen in Niflheim	588	(23)
Chapter 38. Flight	611	(10)
Chapter 39. Ringside Seats	621	(5)
Chapter 40. The Storming of HMS Laertes	626	(14)
Chapter 41. In Hazard	640	(16)
Chapter 42. The Emergence	656	(29)
Epilogue in the Form of a Letter	685