239pp., paperback, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2025

ISBN: 9781526656957

In pursuit of a story, journalist Anthony Fennell travels to Cape Town to board a cable repair vessel captained by engineer and fellow Irishman John Conway. As they sail along the west coast of Africa the mission falters, tensions build - and it becomes clear that Conway is in a crisis. When he disappears, Fennell must set out to find him.

"A powerfully realist novel of men at sea, literally, emotionally and metaphorically. It speaks of the brokenness of our time, the successful and unsuccessful attempts at repairs, and the vulnerability of our world. The spirit of Joseph Conrad hovers over the text, but here the heart of darkness lies at the bottom of the ocean" Salman Rushdie

"McCann may follow Coppola upriver and Conrad to the heart of darkness but the concerns of his novel are contemporary and urgent and utterly compelling. This is an ambitious novel, note perfect, wild but controlled, with its deft apparatus mapping our most mysterious 21st century malaise - the great loneliness of the connected world" Kevin Barry

Irish writer Colum McCann is the author of seven novels, including Apeirogon, Let the Great World Spin (2009 National Book Award) and TransAtlantic. His short film, Everything in This Country Must, was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly and The Paris Review, he teaches in the Hunter College MFA Creative Writing Program, and currently lives in New York City.

TWIST

: McCann (C.)

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