Critics' Opinion:
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Published in USA
Jan 2010
240 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
A novel of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, Ransom tells the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved Patroclus in the siege of Troy; and Priam, king of Troy, whose son Hector killed Patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles. Each man’s grief demands a confrontation with the other's if it is to be resolved: a resolution more compelling to both than the demands of war. And when the aged father and the murderer of his son meet, 'the past and present blend, enemies exchange places, hatred turns to understanding, youth pities age mourning youth.'
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"Starred Review. Though Malouf's sparingly deployed details, vigorous language and sly wit humanizes these tragic heroes, the story is unmistakably epic and certainly the stuff of legend." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Reviews. Malouf's masterly return to the novel ably stands with recent versions of Homeric themes such as Seamus Heaney's The Cure at Troy and Christopher Logue's War Music." - Library Journal
"Ransom is a tour de force, incandescent in its delicate and powerful lyricism and in its unstated imperative to imagine our lives in light of fellow feeling. " - The Australian
"Lithe, graceful ... Deeply moving ..... Nothing short of magical. Malouf's prose is delicate, marvellously alert to the natural world and endowed with a quality that has one name only: wisdom." - Sydney Morning Herald
"This book shines new light on this story of the Trojan War, adding twists and reflections as well as flashes of earthly humour." - Brisbane News
"The sheer potency of this slim volume can hijack your senses and emotions." - The Courier-Mail
"Fiction, in Malouf's hands, becomes the art of rendering the world coherent. For this we must be grateful." - The Australian Literary Review
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David Malouf—winner of the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Prix Femina Étranger and the Los Angeles Times Book Award—is the author of, among other works, Remembering Babylon, An Imaginary Life andThe Conversations at Curlow Creek. He lives in Australia.
A timely novel that explores the human capacity for resiliency and compassion.
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