Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Mar 2007
288 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
Raised in a remote village on the edge of a sugarcane plantation, fourteen-year-old Isabel was born with the gift and curse of "seeing farther." When drought and war grip the backlands, her brother Isaias joins a great exodus to a teeming city in the south. Soon Isabel must follow, forsaking the only home she's ever known, her sole consolation the thought of being with her brother again. But when she arrives, she discovers that Isaias has disappeared. Weeks and then months pass, until one day, armed only with her unshakable hope, she descends into the chaos of the city to find him.
Click to the right or left of the sample to turn the page.
(If no book jacket appears in a few seconds, then we don't have an excerpt of this book or your browser is unable to display it)
"Mason invests his story with all the power of a fable, one that gives Isabel's personal bravery its due while also relaying the timelessness of human suffering." - Booklist.
"Readers may be wooed by the prose, but the story is a snoozer." - PW.
"Imperfectly realized and disturbingly enigmatic, but quite fascinating." - Kirkus.
The information about A Far Country shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.
Daniel Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner (2002), and A Far Country (2007). The Piano Tuner has been translated into 28 languages and adapted for opera and stage. A Far Country was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Northern California Book Award. His short stories and essays have appeared in Harper's, Zoetrope: All Story and Lapham's Quarterly; in 2014 he was a recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A Clinical Assistant Professor in the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry, his research interests include the subjective experience of mental illness and the influence of literature, history, and culture on the practice of medicine.
The Last Year of the War
by Susan Meissner
A little-known story of WWII with great resonance for our times.
Reader Reviews
American Princess
by Stephanie Marie Thornton
Rated 4.9 stars by BookBrowse members - one of the highest scores of all time!
Reader Reviews
An extraordinary and heart-rending tale of two girls with all the odds against them.
About the book
Win up to 12 copies to share with friends or your book club!
A sweeping epic of lost love, lies, jealousy, and rebellion set in colonial Barbados.
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info, and giveaways by email.
