Items related to Archipelago
When a flood destroys Gavin Weald's home, tearing apart his family and his way of life, he doesn't know how to continue. A year later, he returns to his rebuilt home and tries to start again, but when the new rainy season arrives, so do his daughter's nightmares about the torrents, and life there becomes unbearable.
So father and daughter - and their dog - embark upon a voyage to make peace with the waters. Their journey will take them far from their Caribbean island home, into other unknown harbours and eventually across a massive ocean. They will sail through archipelagos, encounter the grandeur of the sea, meet with the challenges and surprises of the natural world. A miraculous future lies ahead of them, unknown territories await to be discovered. But it will take more than an ocean to put the memory of the flood behind them...
So father and daughter - and their dog - embark upon a voyage to make peace with the waters. Their journey will take them far from their Caribbean island home, into other unknown harbours and eventually across a massive ocean. They will sail through archipelagos, encounter the grandeur of the sea, meet with the challenges and surprises of the natural world. A miraculous future lies ahead of them, unknown territories await to be discovered. But it will take more than an ocean to put the memory of the flood behind them...
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
'Monique Roffey's Archipelago is a sparkling portrayal of the Caribbean, and the outer layer of the plot is a magical sea voyage through the islands between Trinidad and the Panama Canal. The real story of Archipelago, however, is a deeply moving journey through grief' --(Kate Saunders, We Love This Book July issue)
'Roffey reveals here in her understanding of men in extremis.
As a writer, Roffey meets the challenge confidently, structuring her narrative adeptly and holding the reader's attention throughout. As the novel progresses, we are invited to condemn Gavin a little less and understand him a lot more. In his inner dialogue we catch the dilemma of a man living in a world where every action is expected to be executed perfectly and confidently, while dealing with feelings of isolation, self-doubt, fear and shame.
Out on the open sea, where his decisions become a matter of life or death, we see that for all his self-loathing, he is motivated by two kinds of love an aching longing for his dead wife and a profound love for his daughter. All of which comes on top of more traditional elements of sea-faring adventure. It's a powerful story of endurance and triumph in the face of adversity, and one that also offers answers to questions of how we might respond in a rapidly changing world when things start to go wrong' --(Jim Ferguson, Scotsman)
'ARCHIPELAGO is lovely: a novel full of sensual, elemental description, soaked in loss and damage and softly haunted by the Caribbean's bloody history of slavery' --(Claire Allfree, interview, Metro)
'Fascinating... Archipelago was a revelation to me; bringing to life a part of the world I knew little about --(NewBooks)
'A dangerous, beautiful journey through the Caribbean - evoked by Roffey in a prose-feast of flying fish and turquoise water...moving' --(The Times)
'ARCHIPELAGO travels to new, intoxicating latitudes...The result is an adventure blazing with a lust for life. The thrust of the story is both geographical and psychological. Roffey excels equally at the hands-on descriptions of yachting, the intricacies of island navigation, the beauty and terror of the sea, and the inner life of her rudderless protagonist...Half the joy here is the experience of life on a boat ...The other half is riding the waves with an open mind to discover where Gavin and his crew wash up. ...[This is a] big-hearted Moby-Dick story for our times' --(Kapka Kassabova, The Guardian)
'Monique Roffey's compelling new novel...is studded with striking images. There's a real sense of momentum...Roffey is adept at conveying wonder' --(Natasha Tripney, The Observer)
'Well-written and well told... Monique Roffey has a winner on her hands with ARCHIPELAGO' --(Raoul Pantin, Trinidad and Tobago Review)
'Roffey traces [Gavin and his daughter Ocean's] meditative journey from Trinidad, heading to the Galapagos, with deceptively simple prose that tenderly brings to life the wondrous creatures and landscapes they encounter. But the real strength of the novel lies in her quiet exploration of both a child and an adult's attempts to comprehend the loss and catastrophe that nature can impose' --(Francesca Angelini, The Sunday Times) --(Claire Allfree, interview, Metro)
About the Author:
'Roffey reveals here in her understanding of men in extremis.
As a writer, Roffey meets the challenge confidently, structuring her narrative adeptly and holding the reader's attention throughout. As the novel progresses, we are invited to condemn Gavin a little less and understand him a lot more. In his inner dialogue we catch the dilemma of a man living in a world where every action is expected to be executed perfectly and confidently, while dealing with feelings of isolation, self-doubt, fear and shame.
Out on the open sea, where his decisions become a matter of life or death, we see that for all his self-loathing, he is motivated by two kinds of love an aching longing for his dead wife and a profound love for his daughter. All of which comes on top of more traditional elements of sea-faring adventure. It's a powerful story of endurance and triumph in the face of adversity, and one that also offers answers to questions of how we might respond in a rapidly changing world when things start to go wrong' --(Jim Ferguson, Scotsman)
'ARCHIPELAGO is lovely: a novel full of sensual, elemental description, soaked in loss and damage and softly haunted by the Caribbean's bloody history of slavery' --(Claire Allfree, interview, Metro)
'Fascinating... Archipelago was a revelation to me; bringing to life a part of the world I knew little about --(NewBooks)
'A dangerous, beautiful journey through the Caribbean - evoked by Roffey in a prose-feast of flying fish and turquoise water...moving' --(The Times)
'ARCHIPELAGO travels to new, intoxicating latitudes...The result is an adventure blazing with a lust for life. The thrust of the story is both geographical and psychological. Roffey excels equally at the hands-on descriptions of yachting, the intricacies of island navigation, the beauty and terror of the sea, and the inner life of her rudderless protagonist...Half the joy here is the experience of life on a boat ...The other half is riding the waves with an open mind to discover where Gavin and his crew wash up. ...[This is a] big-hearted Moby-Dick story for our times' --(Kapka Kassabova, The Guardian)
'Monique Roffey's compelling new novel...is studded with striking images. There's a real sense of momentum...Roffey is adept at conveying wonder' --(Natasha Tripney, The Observer)
'Well-written and well told... Monique Roffey has a winner on her hands with ARCHIPELAGO' --(Raoul Pantin, Trinidad and Tobago Review)
'Roffey traces [Gavin and his daughter Ocean's] meditative journey from Trinidad, heading to the Galapagos, with deceptively simple prose that tenderly brings to life the wondrous creatures and landscapes they encounter. But the real strength of the novel lies in her quiet exploration of both a child and an adult's attempts to comprehend the loss and catastrophe that nature can impose' --(Francesca Angelini, The Sunday Times) --(Claire Allfree, interview, Metro)
Monique Roffey is an award winning Trinidadian-born British writer. She has written four novels and a memoir. Three of her novels are set in the Caribbean and form a loose trilogy which engages with political and environmental issues in the region. The most recent of these Caribbean novels is House of Ashes, published in July 2014. Set on the fictional Caribbean island of Sans Amen, it tells the story of three characters, a gunman, a hostage and a boy soldier caught up in a botched coup d'état. Archipelago, published in 2012, is both an epic sea voyage and an examination of climate change from the point of view of a man from the southern Caribbean. It won the OCM BOCAS Prize for Caribbean Literature in 2013. The judges commended it for its 'exploration of the greater Caribbean space in which is embedded a real-life story of trauma and loss and ultimately redemption that is both contemporary and compelling'. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, a story that maps the creolisation of a colonial couple during the early Independence years in Trinidad, received widespread critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize 2010 and the Encore prize 2011. Her erotic memoir, With the Kisses of his Mouth was published in 2011 to much praise and controversy and was reviewed in the Guardian as 'a subversive work that transcends the author's personal story: it stands alone in the chasm that has opened between feminist literature and the belles du jour brigade'. Roffey has a PhD in Creative Writing and teaches regularly for The Arvon Foundation and the Writer's Lab in Skyros. She is a member of the action group Carib-Lit and teaches and runs workshops regularly in Trinidad too. She divides her time equally between London and Port of Spain. Find out more at http://www.moniqueroffey.co.uk
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherWindsor
- Publication date2013
- ISBN 10 1471317730
- ISBN 13 9781471317736
- BindingHardcover
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