Salvage - Hardcover

Edric, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385617623 ISBN 13: 9780385617628

Publisher: Doubleday, 2010

Synopsis

The far north of England, several decades into the future, the Gulf stream has ceased: Quinn has been appointed by the government to conduct an audit on a remote area of land designated for a brand new model town. As Quinn arrives to greet the local developer, the surveillance cameras spin into overdrive, and soon he is immersed in a quagmire of corruption that will put his integrity to the ultimate test. He meets Owen, a suicidal farmer whose every last pig, chicken, and sheep has been culled. And Winston, a former journalist and alcoholic with a gallery of incriminating photos of rising water below the site; and Pollard, the local Man of God whose faith is for sale. But it is Anna, Quinn's some-time girlfriend in charge of 'digging, filling and capping' the dead cattle pits, who faces the deepest abyss of all. And as the heavens open once again, the mountains of toxic soil that surround the site slowly begin to shift. An all too plausible vision that depicts what is likely to unfurl if climate changes move implacably on, Robert Edric's latest novel is a devastating portrait of Man's ever-quickening descent into a self-inflicted hell. It is Edric's finest novel yet.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Edric was born in 1956. His novels include Winter Garden (James Tait Black Prize winner 1986), A New Ice Age (runner-up for the Guardian Fiction Prize 1986), The Book of the Heathen (winner of the WH Smith LIterary Award 2000), Peacetime (longlisted for the Booker Prize 2002), Gathering the Water (longlisted for the Booker Prize 2006) and In Zodiac Light (shortlisted for the Dublin Impac Prize 2010). His most recent novel is Sanctuary. He lives in Yorkshire.

From the Inside Flap

The far north of England: one hundred years in the future, the Gulf Stream has ceased, the climate is in turmoil. Civil servant Quinn has been appointed to conduct an audit on a remote area of land designated for a brand-new model town. As he arrives to greet the local developer, Quinn realizes his presence is unwelcome. Soon he is immersed in a quagmire of corruption that will put his integrity to the ultimate test.

Quinn meets the winners and the losers: Owen, a suicidal farmer whose every last pig, chicken and sheep has been culled after a slew of viruses; Winston, a disillusioned journalist turned alcoholic with a gallery of photos that show dangerous levels of water below the site; and Pollard, the local man of God whose faith is for sale. But it is Anna, Quinn's sometime girlfriend, in charge of filling the dead cattle pits, who faces the deepest abyss of all. And as the heavens open once again, the mountains of toxic soil that surround the site slowly begin to shift.

An all-too-plausible Orwellian vision depicting what is likely to unfurl if climate change moves implacably on, Robert Edric's latest novel is a devastating portrait of man's ever-quickening descent into a self-inflicted hell. It is Edric's finest novel yet.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385617623
• ISBN 13: 9780385617628
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352