One winter, in a secluded Alpine city, Irish sculptor JohnMolloy meets Bernadette, an enigmatic Italian sociologist. As John falls inlove, a distressing moment from his youth rises into view, the disastrousfallout of which has reverberated unchecked through his life.

Years later, a letter from home arrives, asking him to pray for the speedydeath of an ailing friend. Over a day-long odyssey through the ancient streetsand churches of Bologna, John is forced to confront his present, his past andthe bedrock of his psyche. A delicately crafted novel of two halves, a decadeapart, The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth is a masterfulexcavation of human desires, inhibitions and the patterns of habit to which weunwittingly fall prey.
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