Giles Blunt on visiting a monastery to research his new novel
Giles Blunt is best known as the master mystery novelist behind the popular John Cardinal series. His latest book, The Hesitation Cut, is a stand-alone novel set in a monastery in upstate New York. The main character, Peter, who becomes known as Brother William, is seemingly content as the monastery librarian, but finds himself unraveling after meeting a young researcher studying the story of star-crossed lovers Abelard and Heloise. Peter becomes obsessed to the point that he quits his job and follows her to New York.
Blunt spoke to The Next Chapter host Shelagh Rogers about what inspired the book.
ON CHOOSING A MONASTERY AS HIS SETTING
I read about how you can visit monasteries for a week and I thought that would be a great setting for a character. I eventually did visit such a place for the weekend and I was very taken with the people there and the life they lived. I had long wanted to do a story that encapsulated the idea of the fall from grace, or from Eden. Peter, or Brother William, starts out in a very idyllic existence and loses it pretty quickly.
ON HIS EXPERIENCE VISITING A MONASTERY
These fellows are very devoted to the spiritual life. They work very hard. They're self-supporting, so they're farmers in addition to everything else. They pray at all hours of the day and night. They're very disciplined in their behaviour, very self-contained. At meals they don't talk for example, and it's early to bed, early to rise and it's a very compelling thing to see. In our very busy, distracted lives, it's very attractive.
ON WHY YOU WON'T FIND HIS NOVEL IN THE MYSTERY SECTION
People who are expecting a "whodunit" are not going to like it because it's not a whodunit. It certainly is a psychological thriller. There's definitely a threat to the principals in it, but in this book the threat doesn't come from the outside as it usually does in thrillers. It comes from the inside, and you don't know from which person it's going to come exactly.
Giles Blunt's comments have been edited and condensed.