The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre..., Dominic Smith
The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre..., Dominic Smith
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The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre

Author: Dominic Smith

Narrator: Stephen Hoye

Unabridged: 10 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/30/2009


Synopsis

In this luminous novel, Dominic Smith reinvents the life of one of photographys founding fathers. In 1839, Louis Daguerres invention took the world by storm. A decade later, he is sinking deep into delusions brought on by exposure to mercury, the very agent that allowed his daguerreotype process. Believing the world will end within one year, he creates his Doomsday Listten items he must photograph before the final day. This is a story of ruined love, fame unraveling, and a prodigious mind coming undone.

About Dominic Smith

Dominic Smith is the author of six novels, including The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, which was a New York Times bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and was named a best book of the year by Slate, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Kirkus Reviews. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and The Australian, among other publications. He grew up in Sydney, Australia, and now lives in Seattle, Washington.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on March 11, 2013

I’ll admit it. I cried. To write some back-cover copy, “This is a finely wrought tale of love lost, found, and then lost again.” And then misplaced somewhere in that damn garage. No, seriously, this is quite a lovely book. I chose The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre because I thought it was going t......more

Goodreads review by Annette on June 03, 2019

Louis Daguerre (1787-1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography. Also recognizes as one of the fathers of photography. Paris, 1847: Daguerre’s body is faltering, a byproduct of working with chemicals for more than a decade. Ho......more

Goodreads review by J. on November 16, 2008

A clever depiction of Louis Daguerre -- a historical figure -- set against the backdrop of an authentic 19th century France results in this alluring historical novel by emerging novelist Dominic Smith. The beauty of this piece is in the balance between the story -- about a man's obsession with captu......more

Goodreads review by Maddy on April 22, 2020

A love story at heart or should I say an unrequited love story set in the unrest and turmoil of 1800's Paris. Daguerre is at the end of his life and now famous for being the father of photographic invention, he looks back at his childhood love with melancholic fever but instead he finds her daughter......more

Goodreads review by Tundra on August 05, 2019

A moving story created around the life of Daguerre in the turbulent years surrounding Napoleon in France. The history and passionate pursuit of the creation of captured images, which lead to the discovery of photography, is a fascinating story. There is also a great sadness in this story as Louis sl......more