They were showing the savages on the rooftop - that was the word at the kerbstone.Set amid the skyscrapers of 1890s Chicago and the far-flung islands of the South Pacific, Bright and Distant Shores is both a sweeping epic and a triumph of lyrical storytelling. Chicago First Equitable has won the race to construct the world's tallest building and its president, Hale Gray, hits upon a surefire way to make it an enduring landmark: to establish on the roof an exhibition of real-life 'savages'. He sponsors a South Seas voyage to collect not only weaponry and artefacts, but also 'several natives related by blood' for the company's rooftop spectacle. Caught up in this scheme are two orphans: Owen Graves, the voyage's head trader from Chicago's South Side, and Argus Niu, a mission houseboy in Melanesia - two young men haunted by their pasts.With echoes of Melville, Doctorow and Carey, Bright and Distant Shores is at once a remarkable love story and a breathtaking adventure that chronicles the clash of the tribal and the civilised at a pivotal moment in history. An extraordinary feat of imagination and storytelling, it will wholly seduce you.
- ISBN:
- 9781742374161
- 9781742374161
- Category:
- Contemporary fiction
- Publication Date:
- 01-03-2011
- Publisher:
- ALLEN & UNWIN
- Country of origin:
- Australia
- Pages:
- 512
- Dimensions (mm):
- 234x153x36mm
- Weight:
- 0.63kg
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