The North Water

Author: Ian McGuire

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $22.99 AUD
  • : 9781471151262
  • : Scribner UK
  • : Scribner UK
  • : February 2017
  • : 19.80 cmmm X 13.00 cmmm
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Ian McGuire
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  • : Paperback
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  • : English
  • : very good
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Barcode 9781471151262
9781471151262

Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN NOTABLE BOOK 2016 A ship sets sail with a killer on board . . . 1859. A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters, Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship's surgeon on this ill-fated voyage. But when, deep into the journey, a cabin boy is discovered brutally killed, Sumner finds himself forced to act. Soon he will face an evil even greater than he had encountered at the siege of Delhi, in the shape of Henry Drax: harpooner, murderer, monster . . .  'A tour de force' Hilary Mantel 'Riveting and darkly brilliant' Colm Tóibín  

Awards

Long-listed for Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2016.

Reviews

'A stunning achievement, by turns great fun and shocking, thrilling and provocative. Behold: one of the finest books of the year' -- James Kidd, Independent 'McGuire delivers one bravura set-piece after another ... The North Water has, in places, a Conrad-Melville undercurrent, but for the most part it is Dickens's influence that is most keenly felt ... This is a stunning novel, one that snares the reader from the outset and keeps the tightest grip until its bitter end' -- Financial Times 'Horrifically gripping. Such fine writing might have been lifted from the pages of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick' -- Independent on Sunday 'Terrific, seamed with pitch black humour and possessed of a momentum that's kept up to the final, unexpected but resoundingly satisfying scene ... Inspired' -- Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail 'As a storyteller, McGuire has a sure and unwavering touch, and he has engineered a superbly compelling suspense narrative ... As a stylist, too, McGuire is never less than assured ... a writer of exceptional craft and confidence' -- Paraic O'Connell, Irish time 'Raw and compulsively readable ... think The Revenant for the Arctic Circle' -- The Millions 'Terse, grisly...Henry Drax, chief harpooner on board the Volunteer, is the dark presence around whom the novel revolves and what a presence. One thing's for certain: like Moby Dick, this book is not about the fish.' Daily Telegraph 'This book is quite a ride ... The powerful story and the riches of the setting do not romanticise the past' -- Erica Wagner, New Statesman 'The North Water has exceptional power and energy' -- Nick Rennison, Sunday Times 'A vivid read, full of twists, turns, period detail and strong characters ... An enjoyable contrast to most literary fiction' -- Robbie Millen, The Times 'Brilliant, fast-paced, gripping. A tour de force of narrative tension and a masterful reconstruction of a lost world' -- Hilary Mante 'Riveting and darkly brilliant ... The North Water feels like the result of an encounter between Joseph Conrad and Cormac McCarthy in some run-down port as they offer each other a long, sour nod of recognition. McGuire has an extraordinary talent' -- Colm Toibin, New York Times 'A novel that takes us to the limits of flesh and blood. Utterly convincing and compelling, remorselessly vivid and insidiously witty. A startling achievement' -- Martin Amis 'Death is the making of The North Water, Ian McGuire's bloody, gripping novel set in the middle of the 19th century aboard the Volunteer ... The language has a harsh, surprising beauty that contrasts the spectacular setting with the greedy, bankrupt men who force their way northward, armed with harpoons for slaughter ... Powerful' -- New Statesman

Author description

Ian McGuire grew up near Hull and studied at the University of Manchester and the University of Virginia, USA. He is a founder and co-director of the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing. His stories have been published in the Chicago Review, Paris Review and elsewhere, and his first novel was Incredible Bodies. The North Water is his second novel.