The Eclipse of the Century. This item is unavailable.The Eclipse of the Century

Keith has a near death experience and finds himself at the end of a long tunnel. He thinks at first he must be in heaven, but he is greeted by strangers who tell him he is in Qantoum and they will meet him there again "under a black sun at the end of a thousand years". While recuperating, he discovers that Qantoum is a town that nobody has ever heard of, right in the emptiest heart of Asia. As anybody might who finds he has dreamed of a real place, he travels there. Join Keith as he journeys along the railway track to that intriguing town, Qantoum. The rest, as they say, is the future.

Every now and then, a children's book publisher presents a new novel which surpasses the expectations of a good read for kids and pushes it into the realms of the grown-ups. The Eclipse of the Century is one of those books.

Written for older children with a fascination for the future, Jan Mark has produced an epic, intricate and timely novel which takes the world's two recent main obsessions--a total eclipse of the sun and our entry into a new millennium--and has turned them into a compelling read that will enthral as many adults as it will younger readers.

Keith, a young man taking a break from university, has a near death experience which leads him to take a journey to the mysterious Qantoum, a town no one has ever heard of in the deepest, emptiest heart of Asia. There he meets a cast of characters who befriend him and gently push him forward on his journey towards the new century.

Written with a stylish, dry, wit, Keith's adventure--unnerving and eerily dreamlike, yet at the same time uncannily linked with a reality that is at once terrifyingly complex and comfortably simple--takes the reader on a tour of a place which could well hold the key to the future, and perhaps is not as far away from the truth as we would like to believe.

A dream of a book for anyone with a love of good writing packed with imagination, humour and detail that can at times make the eyes water, The Eclipse of the Century is a must-have for anyone, whatever their age and beliefs, who wonders what the future may hold. (Ages 12 and over). --Susan Harrison