San Miguel - Hardcover

Boyle, T. Coraghessan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670026247 ISBN 13: 9780670026241

Publisher: Viking Pr, 2012

Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Women, a historical novel about three women’s lives on a California island

On a tiny, desolate, windswept island off the coast of Southern California, two families, one in the 1880s and one in the 1930s, come to start new lives and pursue dreams of self-reliance and freedom. Their extraordinary stories, full of struggle and hope, are the subject of T. C. Boyle’s haunting new novel.

Thirty-eight-year-old Marantha Waters arrives on San Miguel on New Year’s Day 1888 to restore her failing health. Joined by her husband, a stubborn, driven Civil War veteran who will take over the operation of the sheep ranch on the island, Marantha strives to persevere in the face of the hardships, some anticipated and some not, of living in such brutal isolation. Two years later their adopted teenage daughter, Edith, an aspiring actress, will exploit every opportunity to escape the captivity her father has imposed on her. Time closes in on them all and as the new century approaches, the ranch stands untenanted. And then in March 1930, Elise Lester, a librarian from New York City, settles on San Miguel with her husband, Herbie, a World War I veteran full of manic energy. As the years go on they find a measure of fulfillment and serenity; Elise gives birth to two daughters, and the family even achieves a celebrity of sorts. But will the peace and beauty of the island see them through the impending war as it had seen them through the Depression?

Rendered in Boyle’s accomplished, assured voice, with great period detail and utterly memorable characters, this is a moving and dramatic work from one of America’s most talented and inventive storytellers.

About this title

Review:

Boyle is a writer who chooses a large canvas and fills it to the edges (Barbara Kingsolver)

An involving historical read and yet another illustration of this author's astonishing range. There seems to be no subject or genre that Boyle won't tackle with brio (Lionel Shriver Guardian, Books of the Year)

Boyle tells an extraordinary story of human weakness and survival, with high intelligence and a terrific eye for detail (Kate Saunders The Times)

Though I generally shy from flap-copy hyperbole of this sort, T. C. Boyle is by far and away one of the most inventive, adventurous and accomplished fiction writers in the US today ... Most of all, he is a mesmerising storyteller, which is magnificently on display in his latest, San Miguel ... a dense, lushly detailed novel .... marking the exceptionally fine lines in San Miguel would have entailed underscoring the entire text ... this isn't a review, really. It's a love letter (Lionel Shriver Financial Times)

A history novel of almost heroic restraint, its prose remains resolutely unflashy, and its tone is sympathetic to the point of genuine warmth ... a touching, even gripping allegory of the doomed nature of human striving (James Walton Spectator)

A bareback ride into the abyss (Tom Cox Observer)

His evocations of landscape are vivid and he can dream up a cast of characters (Belinda McKeon Guardian)

[A] fine new novel ... He is [...] masterful at presenting this enclosed world, and he examines the debilitating effects of isolation on men and women (Philip Womack Daily Telegraph)

It's extraordinarily direct, sympathetic and pretty, with Boyle's characteristic aliveness to the past and its telling little details (Todd McEwen Glasgow Sunday Herald)

Mesmerising and elegiac ... Boyle skilfully captures that tension-filled quietude in the pared-down, mundane details of cleaning, cooking, caring for livestock and enduring the tedium of unchanging days (Scotsman)

Book Description:

The biggest novel yet from the master of American fiction, the New York Times bestselling author of The Women, T.C. Boyle. A New York Times Notable Book 2012.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Pr
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0670026247
• ISBN 13: 9780670026241
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 367