Leapfrog Author
Appearances
News
To Buy This Book Online, Click Here!
Shadows and Elephants
A Novel About the Adventures of the
Notorious Mystic, Madame Blavatsky
by Edward Hower
"Edward Hower is a writer of talent and
substance."
—William Kennedy, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Hailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer as a writer whose work is "Breathtakingly fresh and gripping…weird, haunting, and magical," Hower has written a novel about the rare and tempestuous friendship between a woman and a man who defined occultism in America. Shadows and Elephants is rich in contemporary resonance, for indeed, Spiritualism has survived for over a century, reshaped today in eclectic New Age beliefs.
"Irena Milanova is a Russian émigré who makes her mark in
late-19th-centuryNew York society by holding seances that wow the city's intellectuals.
Capt. Benjamin Blackburn is a Civil War veteran and a journalist, a man who is fascinated
with the supernatural and accustomed to smoking out frauds. They should clash, but instead
they click: Milanova wants a stamp of approval, while Blackburn secretly seeks ''something
more, something real.'' They become friends and then founders of the spiritualist
Alexandrian Society. When chased from New York by scandal, they flee to India and finally
Ceylon. Based on the lives of Helena Blavatsky (known as Madame Blavatsky) and her
partner, Col. Henry Olcott, Edward Hower's fifth novel is an expert portrait of the era
when hard-nosed science was moving in on spiritualism, a paradigm shift that would
eventually relegate psychics and mediums to the fringes. Hower creates complicated
characters in Ben and Irena, and convincingly manages their often tempestuous, though
platonic, relationship. His lush portraits of Asia, as well as a lively cast of secondary
characters, make this a rewarding, often amusing tale of religious and emotional
discovery."
—The New York Times Book Review
"Hower paints a compelling picture of the spiritualist movement and the
celebrities it drew, but the best passages are those that delve into the motives and
emotions of his two flawed protagonists as they learn why they are drawn to the
possibility of miracles, astral journeys and psychic phenomena. This book works on two
levels, as both history and character study, and it is certain to be a welcome addition to
the small but noteworthy sub-genre of fiction dealing with spiritualism."
—Publishers Weekly
"The seething mood and weather of India are captured memorably [and the]
the ferment of ideas that was colonial India is richly suggested in the latest from Hower
who retells the story of Theosophical Society founders Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott
in their 19th-century quest for a legitimate home for spiritualist beliefs."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Edward Hower has written a sympathetic and wonderfully readable study of a
brilliant fraud and her chief accomplice. The characters are based on Madame Blavatsky,
the Russian-born 19th century founder of Theosophy, and her protector Colonel Henry Steel
Olcott. The action moves quickly from the United States to India and Ceylon, the homeland
of mystics and fakirs. Hower's portrait of Blavatsky, however, is full of affection; he
presents her as a survivor, a big heart and a genuine visionary. India, in Hower's
prose, also becomes a major character; it gleams and sweats with sensuality, mystery and
humanity. This is a stunning book, vivid, dramatic and full of warmth."
—Edmund White
"Edward Hower's novel is an exploration of personal dynamics, as well as a
document about people who undertake an unusual spiritual journey. It's a vivid road trip
through territory the author sees in close detail, an affecting story of love and
friendship that is filled with unusual, unexpected (and all too human) twists and
turns."
—Ann Beattie
"I have never read a book which fulfills so completely John Gardner's idea
that a novel should be a "continuous dream." From its evocative title to the
astonishing "ascension" of its mysterious heroine at the end, Shadows and
Elephants is a mesmerizing experience for the reader."
—Lee Smith
"Hower's knowledgeable enchantment with an enchanted India illuminates this
exploration of the peculiar mental and emotional life of the notorious Madame Blavatsky as
she seeks enlightenment in a land that in no way takes her seriously. A generous and
lively novel, Shadows and Elephants shows that behind the smoke and mirrors and astral
letters, the mystical quest is the biggest maya of all."
—Joy Williams
"Edward Hower’s Shadows and Elephants is one of the most
engrossing novels I’ve read in the past few years, and is certainly the most
engaging—and entertaining—novel I’ve read in quite some time. Given the
present rise in spiritual concerns, connected as they are with questions about the
sterility of materialistic culture, Hower’s superb fictional evocation of the world
of Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Olcott has a special pertinency today. In describing
them and their milieu, he manages a rare combination of comic irony and sympathetic
understanding: the wry attitude which a tolerant Deity might feel, upon examining the
record to date of the human race. Hilarious as the novel frequently is, it also takes us
into the deeper regions of the psyche. Shadows and Elephants grows in emotional
intensity as it proceeds, and provides a resolution that strikes me as so inspired
I’m almost inclined to believe that unseen spirits moved the author."
—James McConkey,
Professor
of English, Emeritus, Cornell University
EDWARD HOWER is the author of four previous novels. His writing has appeared in
venues such as The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Southern Review, Epoch,
The Transatlantic Review, Smithsonian; his reviews in the nation's most prestigious
book pages. He was inspired to write Shadows and Elephants while on his second of two
Fulbright fellowships and has been awarded creative writing grants from the New York State
Council on the Arts, The Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the National Endowment for the
Arts. He lives in Ithaca, New York and teaches at Cornell and Ithaca College.
Read More Edward Hower: His Work and His Travels
CATEGORY: Fiction
PAGES: 317
TRIM: 6 x 9
ISBN: 0-9679520-3-4
PRICE: $14.95 / Paperback Original
Available Now-To
Buy This Book Online, Click Here!
Back to Titles