3:31
Crossings is a rather peculiar story involving three separate characters, several mysterious murders including horrific mutilations, and attempts at escaping the Nazis. Landragin begins with a preface, “I didn’t write this book. I stole it. // Several summers ago, I received a call in my workshop on Rue des Bernardins from the noted bibliophile and book collector Beattie Ellingham. She wished to have me bind a loose-leaf manuscript that she described as the pride of her collection. There were no constraints of time or money, she said, but there was a condition, to which I agreed: I was not to read its contents. The manuscript was, in her estimation, priceless and I was to bind it accordingly. We agreed that it would be bound in what is called the COSWAY style, in doublure, framed with pearls, using material she would provide. // I’d known Beattie Ellingham all my life. She was one of the Philadelphia Ellinghams” (xi).