Título: Not after Midnight and Other Stories
Autor: Daphne du Maurier
Sinopse: John and his grief-stricken wife Laura take a holiday in Venice following the death of their daughter, Christine, from meningitis. They encounter middle-aged identical twin sisters, one of whom is blind and claims to be psychic and that she can 'see' Christine sitting with her parents. Meanwhile, Venice has been plagued by a series of murders and during a night out John briefly spots what appears to be a small girl wearing a pixie-hood leaping across some moored boats and almost falling into the water before disappearing into one of the houses along the canal. They also run into the sisters again at the restaurant they are dining in; they tell Laura that Christine is trying to warn them that they are in danger if they remain in Venice, and that John also has the gift of second sight but does not realise it. On arriving back at their hotel a message has been left for them by the headmaster of their son's preparatory school informing them that their son, Johnnie, has been taken ill with appendicitis. Laura immediately books a flight back to England but later in the day John is convinced he has seen her on a vaporetto with the sisters. Unable to locate Laura or the sisters he reports her disappearance to the police. Upon his return to the hotel, John decides to call his son's school to check up on Johnnie and is astounded to find that Laura is in fact in England after all. Meanwhile, the sisters have been arrested and are being held in police custody so John makes his way to the police station to sort out the mix-up. He escorts the sisters back to their pension, but upon arrival the psychic sister falls into a trance. John leaves hurriedly and, disoriented, stumbles upon the alley from the previous evening. Once again, he catches sight of the pixie-hood wearing childlike figure leaping across moored boats, but this time he sees a man in pursuit. Horrified that the man is the murderer terrorising Venice chasing his next victim, he follows her into a room she has run to and proceeds to bolt the door shut to keep out the assailant. As the pixie-hood drops to the floor, the 'child' is revealed to not be a little girl at all, but a middle-aged female dwarf. Grinning, the dwarf pulls a knife from her pocket and throws it at John, piercing his throat. As John slumps to the floor, he has a vision of Laura on the vaporetto with the sisters, and this time realises it is a premonition of his funeral.
Contexto da obra
Quando a classificação é mais ampla, o contexto do livro costuma depender ainda mais de autoria, tema e edição. “Not after Midnight and Other Stories”, de Daphne du Maurier, publicado pela editora NYRB, em 1971 e com 221 páginas, integra a categoria Livros Variados. Por isso, autoria, edição e tema acabam tendo ainda mais peso na forma de apresentar o livro.
Editora: NYRB
Páginas: 221
Ano: 1971
Edição:
Linguagem: inglês
ISBN: 0575007656
ISBN13: 9780575007659
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora NYRB costumam oferecer uma experiência de leitura marcada por narrativas densas e envolventes, que transitam entre o íntimo e o histórico. As sinopses indicam uma predileção por personagens complexos e ambientes ricos em detalhes, como famílias em crise, cenários de guerra e contextos sociais tensos. A linguagem varia do lírico e reflexivo ao irônico e sombrio, com obras que exploram desde memórias fragmentadas até distopias e relatos autobiográficos. O catálogo apresenta tanto ficção literária com forte carga psicológica quanto textos que dialogam com a história e a política, sempre com um tom que mescla erudição e acessibilidade.
