The Raven. This item is unavailable.The Raven

‘Ever since Melville’s assault on the great white whale (and with it the Great American novel) the sea off the New England Coast has proved as fruitful to writers as to fishermen. The latest to launch into it is Peter Landesman, whose immensely accomplished first novel offers a fictional account of a real life disaster, the sinking of the pleasure boat, the Raven, in 1941.
Out of the bare bones of this story, Landesman has fashioned a fascinating fiction. Narrative is skilfully handled across four decades as the tragedy take its long-term toll and the sea gradually reveals its secrets.
This is a magnificent debut. Landesman is the equal of E. Annie Proulx in his handling of the fishermen’s hard lives and tangy dialogue. The Raven displays the allegorical power of the best sea stories wedded to the thematic richness and psycholgical depth of the finest fiction.’
Michael Arditti, The Times