A few years ago I ran across an Amazon page for a novel from the early 1900s that had multiple frame stories, each nested in one another, really complicated. Since my roommate likes these types of stories, I tried to find it again, with no luck.
What I know:
- The book was written in the early 1900s
- It had a blue cover, at least the one on the Amazon page did
- There was an index on the first page (accessed via Look inside this Book) that listed the stories and how they relate to one another
- I think there was the word “sea” in the title, and I think some of the frames might have had something to do with the sea, however I could be wrong on this
I figure that if this book really exists and I’m not just making it up (like she thinks I am), you can help. Thanks!
Probably not the one you’re looking for, but it sounds like your roommate might like Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler.
I love the Calvino book- it blew my mind when I read it.
But I don’t know the book the OP is looking for.
Ok, I hesitate to bring this forward, since the publication date is all wrong, and there’s no “Sea” in the title, but it kind of sounds like it might be Cloud Atlas
Assuming some mismatches in your description, it might be Quincunx by Charles Palliser.
And I’m gonna add John Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse to the mix.
Hm, it’s none of these. My roommate is already a big Calvino fan and I think she may have read Cloud Atlas, I’ll pass the other titles on to her. I’ll just give this one little bump.
Could it be Melmoth the Wanderer? It’s a little early (1820) for your time frame.