Afterlands - Softcover

Heighton, Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 061877341X ISBN 13: 9780618773411

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

Synopsis

In 1871 off the coast of Greenland, 19 men, women, and children, cast adrift on an ice floe from their foundering ship, the Arctic explorer "Polaris," endured a six-month winter ordeal before finally being rescued the following spring. In "Afterlands," Heighton provocatively fills in the blanks of the documented history of this event.

About this title

Review:

"Skillfully constructed, beautifully written...Afterlands is a superior example of a rare breed: the literary adventure story." --Book World The Washington Post

"A big, ambitious literary adventure tale full of blood, gristle, and soul...Afterlands conveys in stark yet beautiful prose the awful reality of what happens both on the ice and in [the soul]." Guardian

"A magnificent novel about the wreckage of history -- both the history that happens to us and the versions of it we create." The New York Times Book Review

"A sophisticated, densley layered fictional exploration of survival, love, betrayal, adn the personal cost of history...a novel of big ideas and beautiful language." The New York Times Book Review

"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." The Financial Times of London

"Unforgettable...a big, wide, deep book...an intensely felt fiction." The Globe and Mail

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

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

"A wonderful, whiteout epic." Gentleman's Quarterly

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

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

"A shattering read." Men's Journal

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

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

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

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: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 061877341X
• ISBN 13: 9780618773411
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432