GUN ROOM - Tapa dura

"[An] accomplished work of fiction." "New York Times Book Review, on PAINTER OF SILENCE"

"The novel s magic lies in Harding s poignant but unsentimental portrayal of people who face such losses and yet find a kind of wholeness." "O, The Oprah Magazine, on PAINTER OF SILENCE"

"Harding writes with exquisite restraint . . . Her deceptively simple prose gives a startling beauty to the ordinary, and evokes great depth of suffering." "The Guardian on PAINTER OF SILENCE"

"At once delicate and sweeping . . . A novel about the passage of time, the senselessness of war, and the need to find and preserve meaning, this is a richly satisfying read." "Daily Mail on PAINTER OF SILENCE"

"Harding s novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of clean and disciplined prose . . . "The Gun Room" focuses minutely on one man and in doing so it tells a deep history of the many men who, having seen war, struggle to be anything but soldiers. "Guardian""

"Harding s novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of clean and disciplined prose . . . "The Gun Room" focuses minutely on one man and in doing so it tells a deep history of the many men who, having seen war, struggle to be anything but soldiers. "Guardian"

"In delicate, hypnotic prose, Harding describes the devastating effects of war and the trauma of bearing witness." "Sunday Express"

"""Graceful and considered . . . The dreamlike quality is heightened by Harding s sharply observed prose, conjuring up with great intensity the claggy English fields, Vietnam s pockmarked delta and Tokyo s ordered suburbs . . . As befits a writer adept at carefully cropped scenes, Harding has the measure of photography. The novel plays with its ability to captivate, shock, inform and misdirect."" " "Sunday Telegraph"

"[An] accomplished work of fiction." "New York Times Book Review, on PAINTER OF SILENCE"

"The novel s magic lies in Harding s poignant but unsentimental portrayal of people who face such losses and yet find a kind of wholeness." "O, The Oprah Magazine, on PAINTER OF SILENCE"

"Harding writes with exquisite restraint . . . Her deceptively simple prose gives a startling beauty to the ordinary, and evokes great depth of suffering." "The Guardian on PAINTER OF SILENCE"

"At once delicate and sweeping . . . A novel about the passage of time, the senselessness of war, and the need to find and preserve meaning, this is a richly satisfying read." "Daily Mail on PAINTER OF SILENCE""

"Harding s novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of clean and disciplined prose . . . The Gun Room focuses minutely on one man and in doing so it tells a deep history of the many men who, having seen war, struggle to be anything but soldiers. Guardian

"In delicate, hypnotic prose, Harding describes the devastating effects of war and the trauma of bearing witness." Sunday Express

"Graceful and considered . . . The dreamlike quality is heightened by Harding s sharply observed prose, conjuring up with great intensity the claggy English fields, Vietnam s pockmarked delta and Tokyo s ordered suburbs . . . As befits a writer adept at carefully cropped scenes, Harding has the measure of photography. The novel plays with its ability to captivate, shock, inform and misdirect." Sunday Telegraph

"[An] accomplished work of fiction." New York Times Book Review, on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"The novel s magic lies in Harding s poignant but unsentimental portrayal of people who face such losses and yet find a kind of wholeness." O, The Oprah Magazine, on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"Harding writes with exquisite restraint . . . Her deceptively simple prose gives a startling beauty to the ordinary, and evokes great depth of suffering." The Guardian on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"At once delicate and sweeping . . . A novel about the passage of time, the senselessness of war, and the need to find and preserve meaning, this is a richly satisfying read." Daily Mail on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"Told in a gracefully quiet tone reminiscent of D.H. Lawrence--simple, descriptive, cool on the surface, churning with emotion below . . . with astute Susan Sontag-like ruminations on photography, viewer and subject, memory and responsibility . . . With a self-effacing tenderness, Harding brings her understated story to a powerful, emotional end. A haunting, subtle inquiry into complex and difficult matters." - Kirkus Reviews

"Harding s novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of clean and disciplined prose . . . The Gun Room focuses minutely on one man and in doing so it tells a deep history of the many men who, having seen war, struggle to be anything but soldiers. Guardian

"In delicate, hypnotic prose, Harding describes the devastating effects of war and the trauma of bearing witness." Sunday Express

"Graceful and considered . . . The dreamlike quality is heightened by Harding s sharply observed prose, conjuring up with great intensity the claggy English fields, Vietnam s pockmarked delta and Tokyo s ordered suburbs . . . As befits a writer adept at carefully cropped scenes, Harding has the measure of photography. The novel plays with its ability to captivate, shock, inform and misdirect." Sunday Telegraph

"[An] accomplished work of fiction." New York Times Book Review, on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"The novel s magic lies in Harding s poignant but unsentimental portrayal of people who face such losses and yet find a kind of wholeness." O, The Oprah Magazine, on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"Harding writes with exquisite restraint . . . Her deceptively simple prose gives a startling beauty to the ordinary, and evokes great depth of suffering." The Guardian on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"At once delicate and sweeping . . . A novel about the passage of time, the senselessness of war, and the need to find and preserve meaning, this is a richly satisfying read." Daily Mail on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"Told in a gracefully quiet tone reminiscent of D.H. Lawrence--simple, descriptive, cool on the surface, churning with emotion below . . . with astute Susan Sontag-like ruminations on photography, viewer and subject, memory and responsibility . . . With a self-effacing tenderness, Harding brings her understated story to a powerful, emotional end. A haunting, subtle inquiry into complex and difficult matters." - Kirkus Reviews

"Harding's novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of clean and disciplined prose . . . The Gun Room focuses minutely on one man and in doing so it tells a deep history of the many men who, having seen war, struggle to be anything but soldiers." - Guardian

"A powerful exposition about the struggle to bear witness to a spectrum of experiences, especially the experience of war." - Library Journal

"Poignant . . . Notable historical fiction containing intense beauty, surrealistic pain, and revealing perception!" - Historical Novel Society

"In delicate, hypnotic prose, Harding describes the devastating effects of war and the trauma of bearing witness." - Sunday Express

"A captivating, superbly written novel about the impossibility of escaping from the past." - Mail on Sunday

"Graceful and considered . . . The dreamlike quality is heightened by Harding's sharply observed prose, conjuring up with great intensity the claggy English fields, Vietnam's pockmarked delta and Tokyo's ordered suburbs . . . As befits a writer adept at carefully cropped scenes, Harding has the measure of photography. The novel plays with its ability to captivate, shock, inform and misdirect." - Sunday Telegraph

"Frankly glorious . . . a nearly stream-of-consciousness prose-poem immersion that is engaging and chilling, overwhelming the reader with the rush and confusion of Jonathan's experience." - The Brooklyn Rail

"[An] accomplished work of fiction." - New York Times Book Review, on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"The novel's magic lies in Harding's poignant but unsentimental portrayal of people who face such losses and yet find a kind of wholeness." - O, The Oprah Magazine, on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"Harding writes with exquisite restraint . . . Her deceptively simple prose gives a startling beauty to the ordinary, and evokes great depth of suffering." - The Guardian on PAINTER OF SILENCE

"At once delicate and sweeping . . . A novel about the passage of time, the senselessness of war, and the need to find and preserve meaning, this is a richly satisfying read." - Daily Mail on PAINTER OF SILENCE

A powerful novel about the memory of war, and how people bring that memory back to the world of peace, from Orange-prize shortlisted author Georgina Harding.

Dawn, mist clearing over the rice fields, a burning Vietnamese village, and a young war photographer gets the shot that might make his career. The image, of a staring soldier in the midst of mayhem, will become one of the great photographs of the war. But what Jonathan has seen in that village is more than he can bear, and he flees.

He drifts on to Japan, to lose himself in the vastness of Tokyo, where there are different kinds of photographs to be taken--pictures of crowds and subways and cherry blossoms. And innumerable pictures of Kumiko, the girl with whom he is no longer lost. But even here, in this alien city, his history catches up with him: the photograph and his responsibility in taking it, his responsibility as a witness to war, and as a witness to other events buried far deeper in his past.

The Gun Room is a powerful exploration of image and memory, and of the moral and emotional complexities of the experience of war.