‘Here are the annals of Montarnis from the Dark Ages to the present, told as a series of short stories, with that form’s characteristic twist — novel, ironic, or terrifying — at the end. Their style is decadent, both in their careful observation of literary artifice and the expression of a strange private sensibility.’ — Thomas Pyne, The Los Angeles Times

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‘...it has something to say about husbands, wives, humour, places, and the various colours of sexuality.’

—Anatole Broyard, The New York Times

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‘Towers at the Edge of a World is a perverse mad dream of rebirth and renewal by a remarkably sensitive artist.’

—Joan Murray, Maclean’s

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‘... fifteen loosely interwoven tales centred on the ancient, walled town of Montarnis ... the stuff of which legends are made, simple human action embellished and distorted by passion and despair.’

—Alison Griffiths, Quill & Quire

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‘But the reader should beware ... Burnett has breathed life into his village of Montarnis, but poison runs in its veins; it is beautiful but pestilent.’

—Bernadette Ward, The South Bend Tribune

Unpublished endorsement

‘Virgil Burnett’s tales ... create a palpable ancientness, a continual unease, and build toward scenes of astonishing fantasy.’

—Richard Wilbur

Unpublished endorsement

‘Deceptively fast-paced, swift without ever becoming simple, the narrative carries one forward through scenes sometimes of barbaric splendour and horror to an often ironic and astonishing denouement...’

—Daryl Hine