The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet - Hardcover

Larsen, Reif

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184655277X ISBN 13: 9781846552779

Publisher: Harvill Secker, 2009

Synopsis

T.S. Spivet is a 12-year-old genius mapmaker who lives on a ranch in Montana. His father is a tight-lipped cowboy and his mother is a scientist who for the last twenty years has been looking for a mythical species of beetle. His brother has gone, his sister seems normal but might not be, and his dog - Verywell - is going mad.

It's odd, but then families are. T.S. makes sense of it all by drawing beautiful, meticulous maps kept in innumerable colour-coded notebooks: maps of the countryside, maps of his family's behaviour, maps of animal and plant life. He is brilliant, and the Smithsonian Institution agrees, though when they telephone with news that he has won a major scientific prize they don't suspect for a minute that he is twelve years old.

So begins T.S.'s life-changing adventure, fleeing in the dead of night, riding freight trains two thousand miles across America to reach the awards dinner, the fame, the secret-society membership and the TV appearances that beckon. But is this what he wants? Do maps and lists explain the world? And why are adults so strange?

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is a story like no other: exhilarating, funny, endlessly charming and unbearably poignant. It is a journey through life's mysteries great and small, and about how on earth a boy with a telescope, four compasses and a theodolite should set about solving them.

About this title

Review

`Larson has made an impressive mark ... spectacularly funny' -- The Sunday Times

`Think Tom Sawyer with a passion for empirical science... one of the most original books of the year' -- Metro

`a remarkable creation, a thing of great beauty' -- Me and My Big Mouth

`one of the year's most original and delightful books' -- Metro

'Terrific and frequently hilarious. A novel in which truth and love throb at the corners of our eyes.'
-- Standpoint

`Obsessionality has its charms and Reif Larsen's debut novel is certainly engaging in its way'
-- The Sunday Times

`Reif Larsen's wonderful original debut, destined to please readers of all ages, is the Next Big Thing... ' -- Irish Times

`Takes this novel beyond the accepted margins of literature...a cross between Thomas Pynchon and Little Miss Sunshine'
-- Dazed and Confused

`a remarkable creation, a thing of great beauty'
-- New Arrivals

`wilfully original and diverting ... you can see exactly why it caused publishers to sit up. It is charming and kooky' -- Observer

Book Description

A captivating, loveable novel of stunning originality and poignancy about a 12-year-old genius mapmaker: set to be an international bestseller.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvill Secker
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 184655277X
• ISBN 13: 9781846552779
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 392