Now We Shall Be Entirely Free: The Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2019 - Softcover

Miller, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444784668 ISBN 13: 9781444784664

Publisher: Sceptre, 2019

Synopsis

* WINNER OF THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE *

* SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE *

The rapturously acclaimed new novel by the Costa Award-winning author of PURE, hailed as 'excellent', 'gripping', 'as suspenseful as any thriller', 'engrossing', 'moving' and 'magnificent'.

One rainswept winter's night in 1809, an unconscious man is carried into a house in Somerset. He is Captain John Lacroix, home from Britain's disastrous campaign against Napoleon's forces in Spain.

Gradually Lacroix recovers his health, but not his peace of mind. He will not - cannot - talk about the war or face the memory of what took place on the retreat to Corunna. After the command comes to return to his regiment, he lights out instead for the Hebrides, unaware that he has far worse to fear than being dragged back to the army: a vicious English corporal and a Spanish officer with secret orders are on his trail.

In luminous prose, Miller portrays a man shattered by what he has witnessed, on a journey that leads to unexpected friendships, even to love. But as the short northern summer reaches its zenith, the shadow of the enemy is creeping closer. Freedom, for John Lacroix, will come at a high price. Taut with suspense, this is an enthralling, deeply involving novel by one of Britain's most acclaimed writers.

'His writing suspends life until it is read and is a source of wonder and delight' Hilary Mantel on Casanova in the Sunday Times

About this title

Review:

Scary, mysterious and thoughtful - the world of Jane Austen bespattered by mud, atrocity and driving rain. (Andrew Marr, Books of the Year New Statesman)

A propulsive, beautifully written investigation into atrocity, guilt and new beginnings. (Justine Jordan, Books of the Year Guardian)

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, a high grade cat-and-mouse manhunt that covers the length of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars - a sort of The 39 Steps with added malice - is pitch-perfect. (Michael Prodger, Books of the Year New Statesman)

The plot grips and surprises. Miller's prose remains poetic and taut with an eye for the telling detail . . . he excels at creating characters who are defined, not limited, by a specific time and place, not just Lacroix, Calley and Medina but the minor players too. Historical or otherwise, this is fiction - storytelling - at its best. (Andy Miller Spectator)

Excellent ... a novel of delicately shifting moods, a pastoral comedy and passionate romance story alternating with a blackly menacing thriller. It is also a book of ideas: about male violence, the impact of war and the price of freedom. (Johanna Thomas-Corr Observer)

A profound exploration of culpability, written in prose that comes singing off the page . . . a compelling read and an important literary achievement. (Fiona Sampson New Statesman)

Enthralling . . . Miller paints a richly detailed portrait of a society in some ways familiar, in others impossibly strange (Suzi Feay Financial Times)

I much enjoyed Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, in which Andrew Miller returned to more orthodox historical fiction after 2015's The Crossing and triumphantly proved there's plenty of life in the old form yet. (James Walton Spectator, Books of the Year)

Both a ripping yarn and a skilful mediation on absence ... The pacing of his story is excellent; his style is crisp; his apprehension of pain is arresting; and his ability to show people trembling at the edge of unreason is compelling. (Andrew Motion Guardian)

In his luminous prose, Costa Prize winner Andrew Miller conjures three very different men, but their experiences have all been traumatising. Manhunt and pilgrimage, the tale unfolds into a gripping and, ultimately, surprising exploration of the inner battleground. (Elizabeth Buchan Daily Mail)

Book Description:

By the Costa Award-winning author of PURE, a stunning historical novel - the tale of a traumatised soldier on a journey in search of peace, which turns into a nail-biting hunt to the death.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1444784668
• ISBN 13: 9781444784664
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432