A Map of Glass

Jane Urquhart’s stunning new novel weaves two parallel stories, set a century apart.

Sylvia Bradley was rescued from her parents’ house by marriage to a doctor whose care has both nourished and imprisoned her. When she meets Andrew Woodman, a historical geographer, her world changes through their devastating and ecstatic affair.

A year after Andrew’s death, Sylvia tells this story to Jerome McNaughton, a young artist whose discovery of Andrew’s body unlocks a secret in his own past. At the center of the novel is the tale of Andrew’s grandfather, Branwell, an innkeeper and a painter, whose liaison with an orphaned French-Canadian woman sets the stage for future events.

A novel about loss and the transitory nature of place, A Map of Glass is vivid with the evocative prose and haunting imagery for which Jane Urquhart’s writing is celebrated.