Ceremony of Innocence by Stephen W. Asher
Following graduation from Wellesley, an inquisitive but skeptical Gemma Danforth spends the year in Nice where, as a consequence of exposures to the broadening world view of the early Modernists, she gradually sheds her skepticism and replaces it with maturity’s hardened resolve. Her months in France lead to encounters with the literary and artistic luminaries of the era. Gemma’s journey is later shared with an alienated ex-pat member of the British aristocracy, her eventual lover, and together, they revisit the Hamptons, venture into the American South, before finally settling in Paris.
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Author Bio:
Stephen Asher is the author of Ceremony of Innocence. Previously, he has published essays, and short pieces in the British sporting literature. He is a member of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, the Barbara Pym Society, and is a proud supporter of PEN America. This novel is his first.
Following graduation from Wellesley, an inquisitive but skeptical Gemma Danforth spends the year in Nice where, as a consequence of exposures to the broadening world view of the early Modernists, she gradually sheds her skepticism and replaces it with maturity’s hardened resolve. Her months in France lead to encounters with the literary and artistic luminaries of the era. Gemma’s journey is later shared with an alienated ex-pat member of the British aristocracy, and together, they revisit the Hamptons, venture into the American South, before finally settling in Paris.Stephen Asher’s intent is to create characters who are amenable to the experiences and circumstances that necessitate coming to terms with life’s durable truths. It is the strength of character imbued in Gemma and in her intimate circle that permits them to encounter these winnowing winds without compromise, and, in like manner, the novel unfolds without distracting decoration.
Stephen Asher is a graduate of UCLA and was subsequently educated at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, and St. Catherine’s College Oxford. His professional life was spent as a neurologist, often perched on the fine line separating the mind from the brain, a vantage point which encouraged a perspective molded not only by the scientific and the rational but also shaped by the aesthetics of the senses. It is this unity of world view that fashions one of the novel’s central thematic elements.The author and his wife were drawn to Idaho’s arid vistas, glistening rivers, and rugged skylines. As a travelling angler, he has pursued Atlantic salmon throughout their entire range, most fondly in Iceland. He has sought sea run brown trout in Patagonia, and steelhead in his home waters in the Pacific Northwest. He and his wife have cycled much of France, and, during quiet times at home, he plays cello. He lives in Idaho with his wife, adult children, and his dogs.