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A Novel
by Ian McGuire
A breathtaking and cinematic novel about the lust for gold and its bloody consequences, set in the unforgiving landscape of the sub-Arctic Canadian wilderness, from the acclaimed author of The North Water.
A ragged fur peddler arrives at a remote outpost of the Hudson Bay Company in the winter of 1766 with a lump of gold, claiming that there is plenty more like it further north at a place called Ox Lake. The outpost's chief factor, Magnus Norton, dreams of instant riches and launches a secret and perilous expedition to find the treasure and bring it back.
Led by a family of native guides, the party of prospectors includes Norton's brutish deputy, John Shaw, and Thomas Hearn, the insular and intellectual first mate from the factory's whaling sloop. During their long journey north, Shaw's callousness and arrogance lead him to commit an act of sexual violence whose disastrous consequences will only fully emerge once they reach their final destination. There, amidst the bleak beauty of the Barren Grounds, as Norton's carefully crafted plans begin to fall apart and the brutal arctic winter starts to descend, Hearn is forced to make a choice that will define his character and determine his future forever.
Utterly captivating, White River Crossing transports us back to the furthest edges of the eighteenth-century British empire where two radically different worlds—indigenous and European—collide with calamitous and deadly results.
"A staggering portrait...brought to vivid life by the author's keen talent for storytelling and willingness to depict the depths of human cruelty...The story's ending is a shock, as McGuire explores in the final twist how hope and honor can be liabilities in a world of temptation, treachery, and retribution. It's a stunner." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"McGuire brilliantly portrays the vicissitudes of human nature as pride and greed lead to treachery, jealousy, and deceit, weaving a trenchant tale of man's inhumanity to man. The prose is both poetic and visceral, while the descriptions of the land and traditions are rich in period detail. A resplendent and masterful tale." —Booklist (starred review)
"A fast-paced, elegantly written adventure novel about the moral and physical perils of gold lust...McGuire inhabits a wide variety of characters here, moving impressively among points of view, between historical sources and his own imaginings, between the literary-psychological mode and old-fashioned adventure yarn. [He] nimbly combines historical narrative and high suspense." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about White River Crossing was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Paul Wolfgang Webster
Ian McGuire is the author of The North Water, Incredible Bodies, and The Abstainer. He lives in Manchester, England, where he teaches at the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing.
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