The Gargoyle

Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.

After a horrific car accident a man lies in hospital with severe burns to almost all of his body. He endures the pain, the hideous disfigurement and the excruciating treatments to remove the dead and rotting skin only in the hope of becoming well enough to end his life.

Then Marianne Engel, sculptor of gargoyles, appears. She unravels a wild, impossible tale of a life they had together, a tale that begins with her nursing him when he was burned once before, seven hundred years ago in Germany. Weaving stories within her story—fables of love in Japan, Iceland, Italy and England—Marianne slowly brings beauty and love into his life.

The Gargoyle is a brilliant love story, sweeping across centuries and continents. When it ends you’ll want to read it again.

Praise for The Gargoyle:

‘The Gargoyle is purely and simply an amazement, a riot, a blast…What a great, grand treat.’

Peter Straub

‘I was blown away by The Gargoyle…A hypnotic, horrifying, astonishing novel that manages, against all odds, to be redemptive.’

Sara Gruen, author of 'Water for Elephants'

‘Once launched into this intense tale of unconventional romance, few readers will want to put it down.’

Publishers Weekly

‘I dare you to read this without flinching. It’s as engrossing as it is gruesome, the kind of horror you watch with one eye closed…nothing is certain in this swirling novel of tales and legends…Nothing he—or you—can assume about this spectacularly imaginative journey will help navigate its twists and turns. Before it’s all over, like Dante before him, our narrator must visit Hades, and like every chapter of The Gargoyle, that’s a hell of a story, too.’

Washington Post

‘…astoundingly good debut…It’s a book that defies easy categorisation, which is a very good thing for the reader because it’s a book that compels with originality and surprise. … Is Marianne crazy or not? It is Davidson’s skill that this matters not—whether you suspend your disbelief or not, he still manages to grab you and take you on a magnificently researched, exotic journey across centuries and space and timeless emotions in a sprawling book that is different, new and exciting.’

Sunday Telegraph

‘The real tragedy of this book is that it ends.’

Daily News

‘An epic page-turner. Davidson’s writing is so vivid and graphic, it will give you the chills.’

People