The Defeat of Grief

4.6/5 ( ratings)

The Defeat of Grief is a sewn hardcover book of 94 pages with dust-jacket, silk ribbon, endpapers and a full-colour frontispiece. Edition limited to only 100 hand numbered copies.

Romania, 1940: a country in social and political turmoil, about to suffer catastrophic territorial losses as war engulfs Europe and its neighbours take the opportunity to settle old scores. People seem to be listless, apprehensive, or defiantly bellicose as they face an unknowable future; for many, there does not appear to be any path forward not involving further upheaval and change, culminating in an epoch of unprecedented terror and destruction.

As tension mounts, the controversial academic Dr Adrian Lereanu makes the journey to the Black Sea resort of Balcic at the behest of an influential friend. Lereanu’s visit to Balcic is not intended as a holiday, although it is clear to him that going there is for his own good. Lereanu would not only prudently distance himself from certain people who might consider him partially responsible for the sense of malaise and disillusion sweeping over the nation; and he would also be able to help by undertaking an unusual task for his protector and potential patron. Balcic soon begins to cast its spell over Lereanu; but he finds little in its sunlit streets but mystery and obstruction. He makes slow progress with his mission until a chance encounter helps him to begin to assemble the diverse pieces of the puzzle he has unwittingly walked into. Lereanu’s discoveries and experiences in Balcic change him, possibly for all time; at the end there are all kinds of new borders to be crossed.

Sixty years later Nathan Brook, an English photographer marooned in bereavement after the sudden death of his wife, travels to Romania to lose himself in new surroundings and in work. When Brook is offered the chance to spend time working and researching in the Bulgarian seaside resort of Balchik, he goes there without hesitation. In the seemingly tranquil old town Brook discovers that boundaries he had previously thought to be well-defined and secure are becoming vague and imprecise. Past and present; art and reality; possession and loss: all seem to become fluid and changeable as Brook finds himself trying to cast light on mysterious works of art, an unfinished hotel, and at least one long-forgotten disappearance. Balchik slowly and inevitably becomes the setting in which Brook can participate in the healing of some old wounds and the resolution of his own unsettled grief and loss.

Language: English

Pages: 94

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Ex Occidente Press (Passport Levant)

Release: November 01, 2010

The Defeat of Grief

John Howard

4.6/5 ( ratings)

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Language: English

Pages: 94

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Ex Occidente Press (Passport Levant)

Release: November 01, 2010

4.8/5 ( ratings)

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Reader Reviews

Benjamin Uminsky

(5/5)

7

Jul 16, 2025

John Howard has written an outstanding novella which, broken into two parts in which a common tale recounting the strange experiences of those interacting with an ethereal hotel in a small Black Sea resort, seamlessly ties the past to the present.I have truly enjoyed Howard's writing, particularly with his beautiful collection of short stories published by Ex Occidente (The Silver Voices)... sadly out of print for some time. My one very minor gripe about those amazing stories was that there was
Ben

(5/5)

6

Jul 16, 2025

‘The Defeat of Grief’ is an absolutely stunning novella. I adore John Howard’s prose style – it somehow mirrors his descriptions of the clean, beautiful architectural lines of the Modernist hotel around which the story revolves. He writes with a measured clarity and restraint, yet a kind of ecstatic rapture hovers between the lines which intoxicates the reader and fills his story with a real magic. In terms of content, it’s probably best not to say too much here. The story is a cryptic puzzle bo...
Des Lewis

(5/5)

1

Jul 16, 2025

This is quite astonishing literature. Both universally… and personally for me. Perhaps one aspect needs the other, a synergy of the personal and the universal. I hope it works in this way for you, too. This landscape book is a panorama of all our individual destinies, I do suggest.The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
Chrysostomos Tsaprailis

(4/5)

1

Jul 16, 2025

“[M]ankind has changed. We have turned away from myth, abandoned it. We have closed ourselves off from the past, and in doing so slammed the door to the future in our own faces. We cannot return to the past; and there is to be no fulfilment in the present. The only solution is to escape from time entirely.”This is how Adrian Lerenau, one of the book’s protagonists, foreshadows the mystery of hotel Kairos, bringing into mind Mircea Eliade’s conceptions of mythical time and space.The Defeat of Gri...

Benjamin Uminsky

(5/5)

Jul 16, 2025

John Howard has written an outstanding novella which, broken into two parts in which a common tale recounting the strange experiences of those interacting with an ethereal hotel in a small Black Sea resort, seamlessly ties the past to the present.I have truly enjoyed Howard's writing, particularly with his beautiful collection of short stories published by Ex Occidente (The Silver Voices)... sadly out of print for some time. My one very minor gripe about those amazing stories was that there was

Ben

‘The Defeat of Grief’ is an absolutely stunning novella. I adore John Howard’s prose style – it somehow mirrors his descriptions of the clean, beautiful architectural lines of the Modernist hotel around which the story revolves. He writes with a measured clarity and restraint, yet a kind of ecstatic rapture hovers between the lines which intoxicates the reader and fills his story with a real magic. In terms of content, it’s probably best not to say too much here. The story is a cryptic puzzle bo...

Des Lewis

This is quite astonishing literature. Both universally… and personally for me. Perhaps one aspect needs the other, a synergy of the personal and the universal. I hope it works in this way for you, too. This landscape book is a panorama of all our individual destinies, I do suggest.The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.

Chrysostomos Tsaprailis

(4/5)

“[M]ankind has changed. We have turned away from myth, abandoned it. We have closed ourselves off from the past, and in doing so slammed the door to the future in our own faces. We cannot return to the past; and there is to be no fulfilment in the present. The only solution is to escape from time entirely.”This is how Adrian Lerenau, one of the book’s protagonists, foreshadows the mystery of hotel Kairos, bringing into mind Mircea Eliade’s conceptions of mythical time and space.The Defeat of Gri...

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