Minds of Winter - Hardcover

O'Loughlin, Ed

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1681442450 ISBN 13: 9781681442457

Publisher: Quercus, 2017

Synopsis

In a journey shrouded in mystery and intrigue, Sir John Franklin's 1845 campaign in search of the Northwest Passage ended in tragedy. All 129 men were lost to the ice, and nothing from the expedition was retrieved, including two rare and valuable Greenwich chronometers. When one of the chronometers appears a century and a half later in London, in pristine condition and crudely disguised as a Victorian carriage clock, new questions arise about what really happened on that expedition--and the fates of the men involved.

When Nelson Nilsson, an aimless drifter from Alberta, finds himself in Canada's Northern Territories in search of his brother, he meets Fay Morgan by chance. Fay has just arrived from London, hoping to find answers to her burning questions about her past. When they discover that their questions about their pasts and present are inextricably linked, the two will become unlikely partners as they unravel a mystery that traverses continents and centuries.

In a narrative that crosses time and space, O'Loughlin delves deep into the history of Franklin's expedition through the eyes of the explorers themselves, addressing questions that have intrigued historians and readers for centuries. What motivated these men to strike out on dangerous campaigns in search of the unknown? What was at stake for them, and for those they left behind? And when things went wrong--things that couldn't be shared--what would they do to protect themselves and their discoveries?

About this title

Review

"A tour de force juggling act of narrative legerdemain." -Kirkus Reviews
"Minds of Winter is a remarkable feat of imagination, empathy, and research. Past and present merge to convey the polar landscape's immense mysteries, and the lives of those voyagers compelled to seek answers in its icy expanses. Ed O'Loughlin is a skilled cartographer of both the Arctic and the human heart. What a magnificent novel."--Ron Rash, New York Times best-selling author

"O'Loughlin's novel is a hymn to human endurance. There will be few better historical novels published this year."--The Sunday Times of London

"For those interested in the obsessions of polar exploration, this is a compelling and suitably idiosyncratic voyage into its strange motivations."--The Australian

"A compelling and hugely ambitious novel."
--Irish Mail on Sunday


"Gripping . . . O'Loughlin is operating at the interstices of truth and history, of that which can be known and that which cannot . . . The final pages seem inevitable, as great endings must; the whole novel wondrous in its tone and reach."
--Eoin McNamee, The Irish Times


"A book that gets you down to the marrow. The compass of Ed O'Loughlin's Minds of Winter points north by northnorth. Up and up it goes, drawn by husky dogs towards the North Pole, chillier and chillier by degrees, frostbitten, snow-blind, but determined . . . Thrilling, Boys' Own, Hornblower stuff."
--Laura Freeman, Spectator


"Author Ed O'Loughlin has masterfully drawn everything together. It takes talent to be able to plot out a mystery and to leave clues and little breadcrumbs for the readers. I would recommend this to folks who enjoy historical mysteries and multiple story lines. If you enjoy Ken Follett, this would be a great one for you. All in all a great read and a truly memorable ending."--Mountains on the Horizon

"Intensely evocative."--The New York Times

"Eloquent and thoughtful."--Times Literary Supplement

Book Description

The new novel from the Man Booker longlistee, in which a meeting between two strangers sheds light on the greatest unsolved mystery of polar exploration.

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1681442450
• ISBN 13: 9781681442457
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 497