Overview

"The Narwhal has a simple mission: to find the remains—human and material—of a disappeared ship. But its rash and obsessive young commander, Zeke Voorhees, has ulterior motives that may spell doom for the Narwhal and its crew. His soon-to-be brother-in-law, scholar-naturalist Erasmus Darwin Wells, may be the only one aboard who can alter their fate. Back in Philadelphia, the women left behind make journeys of the imagination as they await the Narwhal’s return. Wielding her signature lyrical and precise style, Andrea Barrett unravels the mid-nineteenth-century American romance with the Arctic in a ""genuine page turner that long lingers in the mind"" (Philip Graham, Chicago Tribune)."

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9781324065975

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Reviews

"""This novel takes off over the sea, straight out of history and into tragedy…We get to luxuriate in the promise of retribution and in finely calibrated, persuasive prose."" -- The New Yorker ""[Andrea] Barrett’s marvelous achievement is to have reimagined so graphically that cusp of time when Victorian certainty began to question whether it could encompass the world with its outward-bound enthusiasm alone—when it started to glimpse the dark ballast beneath the iceberg’s dazzling tip."" -- Annette Koback - New York Times ""A wonderful book in the truest sense of the word—wonder-filled"" -- USA Today ""A luminous work of historical fiction that explores the far reaches of the Arctic and of men’s souls…The novel is an excellent demonstration of Barrett’s exceedingly fine and thorough hand at blending historical and natural detail with life-shaping conflict."" -- Robin Vidimos - Denver Post ""Breathes with a contemporary urgency, an exhilarating adventure novel."" -- Philip Graham - Chicago Tribune ""Breathtaking…exquisitely written in every way…fully worthy of the massive, dangerous subject it undertakes."" -- Cleveland Plain Dealer ""Both cunningly cerebral and hair-raisingly visceral…This is an astonishingly good book by a writer we must declare as major."" -- Newsday ""Stunning…Barrett shows the arrogance and delusion that drove the age of exploration better than any nonfiction book could."" -- Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Times ""A meditation on the nature of adventure and the scientific mind…[W]ritten in the spirit…of a 19th century novel—solid, unhurried, reflective and totally wedded to plot…Voyage of the Narwhal is [Barrett’s] own creation, marvelously imagined and beautifully told. A first-rate novel."" -- Peter Kurth - Salon ""Barrett delivers a stunning novel in which a meticulous grasp of historical and natural detail, insight into character and pulse-pounding action are integrated into a dramatic adventure story with deep moral resonance…The denouement, when it arrives, is a triumph: a confluence of justice, retribution, spiritual faith, metamorphosis and love."" -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) ""[An] impeccably researched and stunningly written tale…The intellectual range exhibited by this magnificent novel places its author in the rarefied company of great contemporary encyclopedic writers like Pynchon, Gaddis, and Harry Mulisch."" -- Kirkus Reviews"

Breathes with a contemporary urgency, an exhilarating adventure novel...A genuine page turner that long lingers in the mind. -- Philip Graham - Chicago Tribune Breathtaking...exquisitely written in every way...fully worthy of the massive, dangerous subject it undertakes. -- Cleveland Plain Dealer [B]oth cunningly cerebral and hair-raisingly visceral...This is an astonishingly good book by a writer we must declare as major. -- Newsday A wonderful book in the truest sense of the word-wonder-filled. -- USA Today This novel takes off over the sea, straight out of history and into tragedy...We get to luxuriate in the promise of retribution and in finely calibrated, persuasive prose. -- The New Yorker Stunning...Barrett shows the arrogance and delusion that drove the age of exploration better than any nonfiction book could. -- Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Times

Author Information

Andrea Barrett is the author of Natural History, the National Book Award–winning Ship Fever, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Servants of the Map, among other works of fiction. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Award, she lives in the Adirondacks.

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