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The Persistence of Memory by Gordon McAlpine
The setting is a wood at the turn of the century. A stranger, with the face of an old man but the innocence of a child, is pulled unconscious from a stream. When he comes to, he has no recollection of how he came to be there or who he is. His rescuer, laundress Elvia Witt, names him Farley LaRue after a long-lost lover and takes him home to her abusive husband and large family. Farley begins to experience flashes of a life he interprets as his own. They are not, however, the memories of the wandering Shakespearian actor he had been - rather, he is recalling the life of Hamlet, the melancholy prince whose concerns and history prove oddly consistent with the world in which he now finds himself. As his true face emerges from behind the actor's mask, Farley seeks to reconcile what might have been with what still might be. And as Elvia's yearning for her past love transfers itself onto Farley, he becomes transfixed by her daughter Chastity.
Hardcover
First published June 1, 1997
32 people want to read
About the author
Gordon McAlpine
32 books95 followersGordon McAlpine (who sometimes writes as “Owen Fitzstephen”) is the author of Mystery Box (2003), Hammett Unwritten (2013), Woman With a Blue Pencil (2015), Holmes Untangled (2018), and After Oz (2024) –- all shape-shifting novels that play fast and loose with the mystery genre, as well as a middle-grade trilogy, The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe. He’s also the co-author of the non-fiction book The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 MPH. He has taught creative writing and literature at U.C. Irvine, U.C.L.A., and Chapman University. He lives with his wife Julie in Southern California. “Owen Fitzstephen,” by the way, is the name of a character, a dissolute, alcoholic writer, in Hammett’s The Dain Curse.
Gordon McAlpine has been described by Publisher’s Weekly as “a gifted stylist, with clean, clear and muscular prose.” A native Californian, he attended the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing at the University of California, Irvine.
Once Upon a Midnight Eerie is Mr. McAlpine’s latest book and is the the second volume in his middle-grade trilogy, “The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe”. Publisher’s Weekly describes the book as a “gumbo of jokes, codes, treasure, history, mystery and assorted literary references.” It was published by Viking in April, 2014.
The Tell-Tale Start, published in 2013, is the first book in “The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe”. Publisher’s Weekly writes in a starred review of the award winning audio version of The Tell-Tale Start: “Entertaining and original….Endlessly fun and ultimately very satisfying on every level.”
In February 2013, Seventh Street Books published Hammett Unwritten, a literary mystery novel that revolves around the life of the great detective novelist Dashiell Hammett. Reviews of the novel have been stellar and the novel has appeared on top ten lists for the year.
The Los Angeles Times called Mr. McAlpine’s first novel, Joy in Mudville, an “imaginative mix of history, humor and fantasy…fanciful and surprising”, and The West Coast Review of Books called it “a minor miracle.” Joy in Mudville was re-released in a new e-book edition in late summer 2012.
The Way of Baseball, Finding Stillness at 95 MPH, is a non fiction book and was published by Simon & Schuster in June 2011 to outstanding reviews. Written in collaboration with Major League All-Star Shawn Green, the book illuminates the spiritual practices that enabled Green to “bring stillness into the flow of life.”
The Persistence of Memory, his second novel, was published by the distinguished British publisher Peter Owen Ltd., and his young adult novel, Mystery Box, was published by Cricket Books to critical praise.
Mr. McAlpine has published short stories and book reviews in journals and anthologies both in the U.S.A and abroad. His short story “The Happiest Place” appears in the Akashic Press anthology, Orange County Noir. He has chaired and taught creative writing in the Master of Fine Arts Program at Chapman University in Orange, California, as well as fiction writing classes at U.C.L.A and U.C. Irvine. In his twenties, he developed video games and wrote scripts for film and television.
He is a member of the Author’s Guild and PEN, and he is president of the board of directors of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation. He lives with his wife Julie in Southern California.
Gordon McAlpine has been described by Publisher’s Weekly as “a gifted stylist, with clean, clear and muscular prose.” A native Californian, he attended the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing at the University of California, Irvine.
Once Upon a Midnight Eerie is Mr. McAlpine’s latest book and is the the second volume in his middle-grade trilogy, “The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe”. Publisher’s Weekly describes the book as a “gumbo of jokes, codes, treasure, history, mystery and assorted literary references.” It was published by Viking in April, 2014.
The Tell-Tale Start, published in 2013, is the first book in “The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe”. Publisher’s Weekly writes in a starred review of the award winning audio version of The Tell-Tale Start: “Entertaining and original….Endlessly fun and ultimately very satisfying on every level.”
In February 2013, Seventh Street Books published Hammett Unwritten, a literary mystery novel that revolves around the life of the great detective novelist Dashiell Hammett. Reviews of the novel have been stellar and the novel has appeared on top ten lists for the year.
The Los Angeles Times called Mr. McAlpine’s first novel, Joy in Mudville, an “imaginative mix of history, humor and fantasy…fanciful and surprising”, and The West Coast Review of Books called it “a minor miracle.” Joy in Mudville was re-released in a new e-book edition in late summer 2012.
The Way of Baseball, Finding Stillness at 95 MPH, is a non fiction book and was published by Simon & Schuster in June 2011 to outstanding reviews. Written in collaboration with Major League All-Star Shawn Green, the book illuminates the spiritual practices that enabled Green to “bring stillness into the flow of life.”
The Persistence of Memory, his second novel, was published by the distinguished British publisher Peter Owen Ltd., and his young adult novel, Mystery Box, was published by Cricket Books to critical praise.
Mr. McAlpine has published short stories and book reviews in journals and anthologies both in the U.S.A and abroad. His short story “The Happiest Place” appears in the Akashic Press anthology, Orange County Noir. He has chaired and taught creative writing in the Master of Fine Arts Program at Chapman University in Orange, California, as well as fiction writing classes at U.C.L.A and U.C. Irvine. In his twenties, he developed video games and wrote scripts for film and television.
He is a member of the Author’s Guild and PEN, and he is president of the board of directors of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation. He lives with his wife Julie in Southern California.
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