Afterlands: A Novel - Hardcover

Heighton, Steven

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618139346 ISBN 13: 9780618139347

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006

Synopsis

This gripping novel of Arctic survival, brilliantly written by an author who has been described as ?a young Ondaatje,” is based on one of the most remarkable events in polar exploration. In 1871, off the coast of Greenland, nineteen men, women, and children, voyaging on the Arctic explorer USS Polaris, were cast adrift on a large ice floe as their ship began to founder. Afterlands is the story of this small society of castaways?a white and a black American, five Germans, a Dane, a Swede, an Englishman, and two Inuit families?as they try to survive a six-month winter ordeal, struggling with the harsh elements and with one another, the group splintering into factions along ethnic and national lines. Steven Heighton provocatively fills in the blanks of the documented history of this event by focusing on the suspicions, the hunger-induced delusions, and the unrequited longings among three members of the group: Roland Kruger, an educated, witty, rebellious German seaman; Tukulito, or ?Hannah,” the party's Inuit interpreter; and George Tyson, the American ranking officer, who later wrote an account of the experience that solidified his reputation as a hero while casting Kruger as the villain. Throughout the novel, Heighton incorporates actual passages from Tyson’s contentious account, then daringly imagines the aftermath of the ordeal, following Kruger, Tukulito, and Tyson as they attempt to move beyond their searing memories and resume their lives in the larger world.
Combining the high drama of Arctic survival and the psychological intensity of modern theater, this beautifully written novel powerfully addresses themes of belonging, nationalism, and love in times of crisis.

Steven Heighton’s first novel, The Shadow Boxer, was chosen as a 2002 Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and has been published in five countries. He is also the author of several books of poetry and short fiction. His work has received awards in Britain and Canada, has been translated into eight languages, and has been internationally anthologized. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.

About this title

Review:

"Afterlands is a superb work of the imagination -- a blend of fact and fiction that is handled with grace and mastery. The shifting landscape of the narrative is perfectly paralleled by the shifting Arctic landscape and the wildly changing fate of the hapless souls trapped on the ice floe. This is Heighton at his best."
--Helen Humphreys, bestselling author of The Lost Garden"
"Afterlands is a sprawling adventure story, part epic of Arctic endurance, part Mex-western, a Lost in the Barrens meets The Magnificent Seven kind of book, with an unrequited love affair between a German seaman and an Inuit matron to add passion to an already passionate book. At the heart of Afterlands is an ambiguous hero, the disgraced German sailor Roland Kruger whose true-life bravery has inspired Heighton to create a complex, brooding, rebellious and mysteriously gentle central character. Afterlands is full of unforgettably dramatic moments: the tubercular Inuit girl Punie performing Mendelssohn in a New England concert hall, a gorgeous bear-bull fight in a Mexican plaza, and the long night when the men anchor their remaining whaleboat with their own bodies as the ice-floe sinks and frigid waves dash over them."
--Douglas Glover, Governor General-winning author of Elle: A Novel
Praise for Steven Heighton:
"Steven Heighton is one of the finest writers in this country."
--Barbara Gowdy, author of The Romantic
"One of the best writers of his generation, maybe the best."
--Al Purdy
"He is like a young Ondaatje . . . a superb craftsman at ease in foreign places and distant times."
--"The Globe and Mail
"Heighton is a heavyweight . . . a master of realist narrative. Theresult is a genuine, hard-fought lyrical beauty that transcends fashion."
--"The Vancouver Sun
"A bravura performance, intense and poetic . . . The Shadow Boxer fizzes with life and energy, and has a swaggering, larger-than-life quality."
--"Independent on Sunday (UK)
"Fluid, rhythmical, full of force and grace, his sentences compel you to keep reading."
--Wayne Johnston
"Heighton is one of our most ambitious and prodigiously talented writers. . . . For those who roll their eyes at the prospect of another historical novel from a young CanLit star, rest assured that Heighton's purpose here is not to dazzle with research, but rather to find characters at the boundary points in history, those rare moments when the tectonic plates of different cultures grind against one another and threaten destruction."
-"Quill & Quire

"From the Hardcover edition.

"ƯA¨ dramatic, visually stunning tour-de-force."

Selected as a Best Book of the Year by Globe & Mail, National Post, Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen, and others

"A terrific read...Heighton excels in telling a tale of hardship, madness, love, loyalty, and sacrifice." --Irish Examiner

"Terrific...this novel's scale, its delight in detail, and its psychological insight make it an exceptionally satisfying adventure."

"A rich tale...a story of grand human passions...a subtle portrait of qualified heroism and ambiguous villainy." --Sunday Times (South Africa)

"A masterpiece, packed to the rafters with sumptuous language, sweeping vistas, contained fury, sorrow, and unrequited love." --Daily Express (UK)

"Superb...There's nail-biting adventure, unforgettable character studies, lessons about the resurgance of nationalism in today's post-9/11 world." --Ottawa Citizen

"Compelling, vividly imagined, and written in rich and precise prose...But the real force of the book comes from the currents of history -- of young nations rising and ancient civilizations ebbing -- that run just below the surface."

"[A] dramatic, visually stunning tour-de-force."

About the Author:

STEVEN HEIGHTON is the internationally acclaimed author of the novels Afterlands and The Shadow Boxer, a Mariner Original that was selected as a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year. He has also written several books of poetry, short fiction, and essays. His work has received numerous awards and has been translated into nine languages.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0618139346
• ISBN 13: 9780618139347
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 406