The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Someone at the library recommended this book to me and at first, I was skeptical, I had never heard of it and it seemed to be a bit odd. I could not have been more wrong - well it is a bit odd, but in a good way. The Gargoyle is narrated by a former porn actor who is in a horrible car crash that results in severe burns over the majority of his body. When he wakes up in the burn ward, his first thoughts are of the ways he will kill himself when he gets out. But then one day he is visited by Marianne Engel, a beautiful, if slightly disturbed woman who sculpts gargoyles and grotesques. Marianne insists that they were lovers long ago in medieval Germany, where she nursed him back to health at the monastery in Engelthal. She is a master storyteller, and helps pass the rehabilitation time with the story of their past, as well as stories of love from Japan to Iceland to Italy and England. As his body heals, so does his mind and soul, under the careful care of Marianne. This is a great, great, book, although if you have a weak stomach at all, just be prepared for a rough couple chapters detailing with the burns and care of the burns. It's very graphic but please don't let that deter you from reading this book.