The Greenlanders - Softcover

Smiley, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 044991089X ISBN 13: 9780449910894

Publisher: Fawcett Books, 1996

Synopsis

An acclaimed novel, set in fourteenth-century Greenland and rich with fascinating detail about everyday life, presents the compelling story of one Norse family as it brings to life a remote and almost forgotten civilization. Reprint.

About this title

Review

"Impressive. . . . Haunting. . . . She is a diverse and masterly writer." -"The New York Times Book Review""An epic masterpiece. . . . Spellbinding." -"Newsday""A sprawling, multi-generational, heroic Norse narrative." -"Chicago Tribune""Totally compelling. . . . Fascinating. . . . In the manner of the big books of the nineteenth century, in which complex family and community matters unravel-Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy-The Greenlanders sweeps the reader along. . . . Smiley is a true storyteller." -"The Washington Post"

Impressive. . . . Haunting. . . . She is a diverse and masterly writer. The New York Times Book Review An epic masterpiece. . . . Spellbinding. Newsday A sprawling, multi-generational, heroic Norse narrative. Chicago Tribune Totally compelling. . . . Fascinating. . . . In the manner of the big books of the nineteenth century, in which complex family and community matters unravel Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy The Greenlanders sweeps the reader along. . . . Smiley is a true storyteller. The Washington Post"

Impressive. . . . Haunting. . . . She is a diverse and masterly writer. The New York Times Book Review

An epic masterpiece. . . . Spellbinding. Newsday

A sprawling, multi-generational, heroic Norse narrative. Chicago Tribune

Totally compelling. . . . Fascinating. . . . In the manner of the big books of the nineteenth century, in which complex family and community matters unravel Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy The Greenlanders sweeps the reader along. . . . Smiley is a true storyteller. The Washington Post

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From the Back Cover

At the edge of the polar icecap is medieval Europe's most farflung outpost, a Viking colony settled for generations but now struggling for survival. Here, far from the civilised world, in a land of glittering fjords, of blasting winds, of sun-warmed meadows and high dark mountains, live a people much accustomed to holding their own opinions and doing as they please. They are, however, haunted by a rising apprehension: with every year that passes the winters seem unaccountably more cruel; the fur-clad eskimos from the North more demonic; there are increasing outbursts of lawlessness and witchcraft. Has Europe, in the grip of the plague, forgotten the Greenlanders? If so, will they be able to survive in their isolation?

In this powerful and hypnotic novel Jane Smiley draws us into a fourteenth-century Norse community – into the lives of its farmers, priests and lawspeakers, into the hunts, the feasts and the long-standing feuds, the flowerings of love and the explosions of sudden violence – to reveal a world which is at once harsh and beautiful, bleak yet vibrant with life.

"This extraordinary novel is full of life and bristling with action."
COSMOPOLITAN

"A magnificent novel, Jane Smiley has brought to her immaculately researched material a deep sympathy with her characters, a sparkling imagination and a faultless narrative skill. She has truly written a saga, which is biblical in its rhythm, beauty and simplicity of language and yet which has all the excitement of a modern adventure novel."
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'The Age of Grief, Ordinary Love' and 'A Thousand Acres' (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) are also available in Flamingo.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 044991089X
• ISBN 13: 9780449910894
• Binding: Paperback