The North Water: A Novel Review

• One of The New York Times Book Review‘s 10 Best Books of the Year
  Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
  A New York Times Book Review Notable Book
  An Amazon Best Book of the Year

• “The North Water…is a great white shark of a book ― swift, terrifying, relentless and unstoppable.”
  ―Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

• “Riveting and darkly brilliant….The North Water feels like the result of an encounter between Joseph Conrad and Cormac McCarthy in some run-down port as they offer each other a long, sour nod of recognition.”
  ―Colm Toibin, The New York Times Book Review

• “[An] audacious work of historical suspense fiction…It’s the poetic precision of McGuire’s harsh vision of the past that makes his novel such a standout…absolutely transporting.”
  ―Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

• 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.

Check Out What Readers Said about Kindle/eBook!

“Well, let me make this simple. If Ian McGuire was determined to outdo “The Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, he came close except, in this case, the ship goes into the horrors (“the horror! the horror”) of the Arctic. It is an amazingly dark novel with the most vivid descriptions of characters (you would never want to ever meet) in place (would would never, never want to go.) It will become a classic!” By Eric Selby

“This is the best blow by blow account off the day to day life on board a whale ship with all the dangers, filthy, dirty, a well exciting experiences. Also the single minded determination to survive and to recover and continue life with as much success and happiness as possible without surrendering to feeling s of helplessness and despair which would be easy but which will lead to death.” By Yvonne Ledgerwood

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Product Details

Author: Ian McGuire
Kindle Price: Hardcover $20.58 Paperback $16.00 Audible $23.56 Audio CD $44.99
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (March 15, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627795944
ISBN-13: 978-1627795944
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (324 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #536 in Books