From Powells.com
Nick Bantock spent over 100 weeks on the bestseller list with the original Griffin and Sabine trilogy, a captivating and heartfelt correspondence between two unusual souls. The enormous popularity of this epistolary series is easy to fathom. Dazzling and haunting illustrations by Bancock adorn postcards, envelopes and letters (encased in the envelopes to take out and peruse) and propel a tale that is as otherworldly as it is romantic. Along with the beautiful and haunting story, readers return repeatedly to the baroque, sumptuous, and cryptic illustrations which contain clues to the character's fates.
Bantock began his second trilogy with The Gryphon, by introducing readers to a pair of separated lovers, Matthew and Isabella, whose affecting letters and long-distance love affair parallels that of Griffin and Sabine. Like the first trilogy, mystery and intrigue abound, and as the pair's adventure intensifies they are guided by the sage and enigmatic voices of Griffin and Sabine themselves. Alexandria follows The Gryphon and expands upon Matthew and Isabella's bewitching puzzle. By the end of Alexandria readers will be desperate to possess the final installment, The Morning Star. Bantock's second trio is as satisfying as the much-loved first a gorgeous and unique series that compels much rereading and examination.
Veronica, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Alexandria will continue to delight the 3 million readers who fell in love with the epistolary romance of Griffin and Sabine. Awash with gorgeous artwork, the mystery of Griffin Moss and Sabine Strohem now entwines Matthew Sedon, an archaeologist steeped in Egyptian antiquity, and Isabella de Reims, a student in Paris whose vision holds the key to a new reality. Intrigue turns to danger and romance turns to passion as Matthew and Isabella struggle to make sense of a world-and feelings-beyond experience. Only the guidance of Griffin and Sabine, expert navigators of myth and reality, can keep them safe. Author and artist Nick Bantock brings a new sensuality and romance to his vivid dreamscapes and unique visual perspective. Alexandria is a breathtaking new chapter in a saga that has captured hearts, minds, and imaginations the world over.
Review
Highly imaginative and ebulliently romantic illustrator and storyteller Bantock revived the epistolary tale of Griffin and Sabine, the cosmic love story that catapulted him onto best-seller lists more than a decade ago, in his last book, The Gryphon. In that tantalizing volume, the long silent correspondents make contact with another smitten pair: the young archaeologist, Matthew, and his sweetheart, Isabella. As their mystical adventure continues here, Sabine affirms her psychic connection with Matthew, who has just begun work on a new dig in Alexandria, perhaps on the site of the city's legendary lost library, and Griffin continues his long-distance, somewhat spooky mentoring of Isabella, who is studying sphinxes in Paris. All four are eloquent, artistic, and oddly calm in the face of inexplicable, often frightening events that mark their approach to a hidden treasure their menacing foe seems also to covet. Bantock draws liberally on the myth of the Egyptian god Thoth, scribe and guardian of the great library, and employs a self-possessed cat as Isabella's new familiar, upping the ante on both love and mysticism only to leave his enchanted readers hanging, waiting impatiently for the next elaborately constructed installment. As always Bantock's illustrations are as clever as they are exquisite, each a beautifully detailed clue to the metaphysical mystery at hand, but, as before, many of the letters are removable, making this an unlikely candidate for circulation but well worth having for in-library reading. -Booklist
About the Author
Nick Bantock is the author of numerous illustrated novels, including Griffin and Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, The Golden Mean, The Gryphon, and Alexandria, which together spent 100 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. Born in England, he now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.