The Cloud Sketcher Author:Richard Rayner "The Cloud Sketcher" is a passionate tale of love, war and art that ranges from the icefields of the Arctic Circle at the dawn of the last century to the ruthless world of 1920's New York. — In a tiny Finnish village, Esko Vaananen mourns the death of his mother, who died in the same fire that so horribly scarred his face. At the brink of despai... more »r, he has a vision of an impossibly tall building rising gracefully from a frozen lake, disappearing into the clouds above. This "cloud sketcher," or skyscraper, sparks Esko's lifelong quest for beauty. He becomes an architect, believing that if he can create something of unparalleled loveliness, surely he will be worthy of his true love, Katerina. This obsessive desire causes Esko to risk everything time and again: as a reluctant hero in the Finnish civil war; as a laborer on the treacherous high steel of a Manhattan riveting gang; and finally, as a man accused of murdering the husband of the woman he loves.
"The Cloud Sketcher" is a transforming journey into the heart of beauty and the peril of love, a lyrical epic that resurrects history with such authenticity and drama as to place Richard Rayner in the company of our very best novelists.
Nine hours, six cassettes; abridgment approved by author.« less