Upcoming Event
  • Ancient Light

    by John Banville
    Our Price $20.76
    Hardcover
    Special Order
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    Ancient Light

John Banville

reads from

Ancient Light:
A Novel

$5 tickets go on sale Thursday, September 20

Date

Oct
12
Friday
October 12, 2012
6:00 PM

Location

Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

$5.00 - On Sale Now

Harvard Book Store is delighted to welcome Booker Prize–winner JOHN BANVILLE for a reading of his latest novel, Ancient Light.

Is there any difference between memory and invention? That is the question that fuels Ancient Light. And it is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave, an actor in the twilight of his career and of his life, as he plumbs the memories of his first—and perhaps only—love (he, fifteen years old, the woman more than twice his age, the mother of his best friend; the situation impossible, thrilling, devouring and finally devastating), and of his daughter, lost to a kind of madness of mind and heart that Cleave can only fail to understand. When his dormant acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role portraying a man who may not be who he says he is, his young leading lady—famous and fragile—unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see with aching clarity the “chasm that yawns between the doing of a thing and the recollection of what was done.”

Ancient Light is a meditation on love and loss, on the inscrutable immediacy of the past in our present lives, on how invention shapes memory and memory shapes the man.


Win front-row seats to see John Banville on October 12! Pre-order Ancient Light, a Harvard Book Store Buzz List selection, by its scheduled release date (October 2) to receive a 20% discount and a chance to win 2 seats at our October 12 event.

Our winner will be notified on October 2. Pre-payment is required for discount and contest entry. (Note: If you purchase tickets and then win, you can present up to two tickets for a refund. Refund instructions will be included in your notification. However, if you don't win, our usual policy that tickets are non-returnable will apply.)

John Banville
John Banville

John Banville

John Banville, the author of fifteen previous novels, has been the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Award, the Franz Kafka Prize and a Lannan Literary Award for Fiction. He lives in Dublin.

Tickets purchased online are non-refundable and are exchangeable for $5 coupons towards the purchase of a book (valid up to 30 days after the event). Additionally, tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. Please note that tickets only guarantee you a seat up until five minutes before the event begins.

Tickets are also available at the store and over the phone at 617-661-1515.

Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 10 minutes

As you exit the station, cross Mass. Ave. and look for the newsstand Crimson Corner on the right side of the street and Curious George book shop on the left side of the street. Keeping the newsstand to your right, proceed along Brattle St. (you will pass the restaurant Tory Row). Follow Brattle St. as it curves to the right in Brattle Square (follow the sidewalk on the right side of the street). The Brattle will be on the left-hand side of the street. The building is shared with Algiers Cafe, Casablanca Restaurant, and Harvard Square Optical, and the theatre entrance is on the left side of the building—look for the sidewalk poster case and marquee.

Unable to attend a Harvard Book Store author event? You can still pre-order a signed book by one of our visiting authors.

While we can't guarantee fulfillment of a signed book pre-order, our authors are almost always able to sign extra books to fulfill such orders.

Ordering a signed book on harvardsquarebookstore.com:

  • Add the book to your shopping cart and then click Checkout.
  • Specify in Order Comments that you want a signed copy of the book.
  • Please note: online orders for signed copies must be placed at least one business day before the event. If you are ordering the day of, please call us instead.

Ordering a signed book by phone:

  • Call us at (617) 661-1515 and one of our booksellers will take your order. Specify you'd like a signed copy.
  • If you are requesting a personalized inscription and/or requesting your book be shipped, we'll need to take down credit card information. If you are planning to pick up the signed book in the store, you can pay on pick-up.

FAQ:

Can I request a personalized inscription?
We are happy to take requests for the author to sign your book to a specific person, but we can't guarantee it. If you do get a personalized inscription, the book will be non-returnable. We will require credit card information when you place the order.

Do signed books cost more?
There is no extra fee for a signed book!

Do I have to pick it up in the store, or can you deliver my signed book?
As with all web or phone orders, we can hold your book for in-store pickup, or ship it anywhere in the country.

I am planning to attend an author event. Do I need to pre-order a book?
No need. We'll be selling books at the event, and nearly all of our events include a signing at the end of the talk.

More questions? Give us a call!

General Info
(617) 661-1515
info@harvardsquarebookstore.com

Media Inquiries
(617) 661-1424 x1
tmetal@harvardsquarebookstore.com

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