Ian McGuire

"A fast-paced, gripping story set in a world of gruesome violence and perversity, where 'why?' is not a question and murder happens on a whim: but where a very faint ray of grace and hope lights up the landscape of salt and blood and ice. A tour de force of narrative tension and a masterful reconstruction of a lost world that seems to exist at the limits of the human imagination." --Hilary Mantel “This is a novel that takes us to the limits of flesh and blood. Utterly convincing and compelling, remorselessly vivid, and insidiously witty, The North Water is a startling achievement.” --Martin Amis A nineteenth-century whaling ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer aboard in this dark, sharp, and highly original tale that grips like a thriller. Behold the man: stinking, drunk, and brutal. Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaler bound for the rich hunting waters of the arctic circle. Also aboard for the first time is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to sail as the ship's medic on this violent, filthy, and ill-fated voyage. In India, during the Siege of Delhi, Sumner thought he had experienced the depths to which man can stoop. He had hoped to find temporary respite on the Volunteer, but rest proves impossible with Drax on board. The discovery of something evil in the hold rouses Sumner to action. And as the confrontation between the two men plays out amid the freezing darkness of an arctic winter, the fateful question arises: who will survive until spring? With savage, unstoppable momentum and the blackest wit, Ian McGuire's The North Water weaves a superlative story of humanity under the most extreme conditions.

A Novel

The North Water

"The rebels will be hanged at dawn, and their brotherhood is already plotting revenge. Stephen Doyle, an Irish-American veteran of the Civil War, arrives in Manchester from New York with a thirst for blood. He has joined the Fenians, a secret society intent on ending British rule in Ireland by any means necessary. Head Constable James O'Connor has fled grief and drink in Dublin for a sober start in Manchester, and connections with his fellow Irishmen are proving to be particularly advantageous in spying on Fenian activity. When a long-lost nephew returns from America and arrives on O'Connor's doorstep looking for work, O'Connor cannot foresee the way his fragile new life will be imperiled--and how his and Doyle's fates will be intertwined. In an epic tale of revenge and obsession, master storyteller Ian McGuire once again transports readers to a time when blood begot blood. Moving from the gritty streets of Manchester to the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, The Abstainer is a searing novel in which two men, motivated by family, honor and revenge, must fight for life and legacy"--

The Abstainer

Le acque del Nord

White River Crossing 

A nineteenth-century whaling ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer aboard in this dark, sharp, and highly original, incredibly gripping tale. Behold the man: stinking, drunk, brutal. Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaler bound for the rich hunting waters of the arctic circle.

La sangre helada/ The North Water

North Water

L'astemio

"An original exploration of the work of writer Richard Ford in the context of its place within contemporary debates about the possible role, meaning of, and value of literary realism in a postmodern age"--

Richard Ford and the Ends of Realism

“This is Dickens in the present tense, Dickens for the twenty-first century.”—Roddy Doyle, The New York Times Book Review An Irishman in nineteenth-century England is forced to take sides when his nephew joins the bloody underground movement for independence in this propulsive novel from the acclaimed author of The North Water. NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The New York Public Library • New Statesman • Publishers Weekly Manchester, England, 1867. The rebels will be hanged at dawn, and their brotherhood is already plotting its revenge. Stephen Doyle, an Irish-American veteran of the Civil War, arrives in Manchester from New York with a thirst for blood. He has joined the Fenians, a secret society intent on ending British rule in Ireland by any means necessary. Head Constable James O’Connor has fled grief and drink in Dublin for a sober start in Manchester. His job is to discover and thwart the Fenians’ plans whatever they might be. When a long-lost nephew arrives on O’Connor’s doorstep looking for work, he cannot foresee the way his fragile new life will be imperiled—and how his and Doyle’s fates will become fatally intertwined. In this propulsive tale of the underground war for Irish independence, the author of The North Water once again transports readers to a time when blood begot blood. Moving from the dirt and uproar of industrial Manchester to the quiet hills of rural Pennsylvania, The Abstainer is a searing novel in which two men, haunted by their pasts and driven forward by the need for justice and retribution, must fight for life and legacy.

Velrybářská loď pluje do Arktidy — nikoli však za velrybami. Mladý Ir Patrick Sumner se během velkého indického povstání v roce 1857 zúčastnil jako vojenský felčar obléhání Dillí. Když se po propuštění z armády nechá najmout jako lodní lékař na velrybářskou loď plující do Arktidy, doufá, že během dlouhé monotónní plavby najde ztracený klid. Minulost ho však stále pronásleduje. Sumner navíc zjišťuje, že nastoupil na loď, která má nejspíš jiný cíl než lovit velryby, a že jeden z harpunářů je vychytralý sadistický vrah. Vytrhnou události na palubě Sumnera z apatie, do níž ho uvrhlo veškeré násilí a nespravedlnost, jichž byl v životě svědkem, a přimějí ho k činu? Severní vody jsou román o civilizovanosti a barbarství a také o schopnosti jednat lidsky i za extrémních podmínek.

Severní vody

Thirty-something Morris Gutman is a chronically indecisive temporary lecturer at the University of Coketown. Life hasn't turned out as he planned: he has a demanding wife, an insomniac child and teaches demeaning courses to ungrateful English students. However, he is willing to do whatever it takes to negotiate a permanent departmental job, even if it means finding his way through the minefield that is academia and winning over the alluring and manipulative research fellow Zoe Cable.

Incredible Bodies

Patrick Sumner, un ancien chirurgien de l'armée britannique traînant une mauvaise réputation, n'a pas de meilleure option que d'embarquer sur le Volunteer, un baleinier du Yorkshire en route pour les riches eaux du Grand Nord. Mais alors qu'il espère . trouver du répit à bord, un garçon de cabine est découvert brutalement assassiné. Pris au piège dans le ventre du navire, Sumner rencontre le mal à l'état pur en la personne de Henry Drax, un harponneur brutal et sanguinaire. Tandis que les véritables objectifs de l'expédition se dévoilent, la confrontation entre les deux hommes se jouera dans les ténèbres et le gel de l'hiver arctique.

Ian McGuire

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