THE REPUBLIC OF LOVE

''The Republic of Love marries a wide diversity of elements, mythical and modern, ironic and moving, exhilarating and melancholy...a love-surveying story that is enticingly seductive.'' Times Literary Supplement ''The Republic of Love is a hymn to the pleasures and pains, the raptures even of an unspectacular life. Fay discovers that happiness is "a kind of by-product of existence, and not an end in itself". This piece of knowledge saves her, Shields suggests, from the watery, ambiguous yearning of the mermaid, "plaintive, coy", wordlessly calling out to no one. A simple message, but Shields delivers it with so much grace and so little pretension, that it is impossible not to be enchanted by her voice. She sings with the charm of a true siren. In her hands, we believe, anything can happen.'' Guardian ''A novel that''s so engrossing it makes you want to retire to a squashy sofa until you reach the end. Vividly fresh...glittering and spangled with fabulous surprises.'' Sunday Times