The Solitaire Mystery

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Synopsis

"In the wake of Jostein Gaarder's international bestselleer, Sophie's World (B-O-T #4075), comes this enchanting companion book about a son, his father, and their search for the boy's mother. The pair journey by car from Norway to Greece, the cradle of philosophy, and on the way young Hans Thomas receives a mysterious miniature book. It's a fantastic memoir of a sailor shipwrecked in 1842 on a strange island where a deck of cards has come to life. The parallel stories of the sailor's cards and the father-son trip are woven together seamlessly into a magial fable about the meaning of life. Not since Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (B-O-T #4324) has a writer so successfully incorporated large philosophical questions into an absorbing story. "An offbeat delight, masquerading as an ingeniously constructed fairy tale." (Publisher's Weekly) [from back cover of case]

Tags

Is The Solitaire Mystery appropriate for my child?

Suitable for most readers 10 and up.

A philosophical fairy tale about a father and son searching for the boy's missing mother, incorporating fantastical elements and big questions about existence through a story-within-a-story format.