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Out on the far northern border of a failed state, a lone survivor, Makepeace, patrols the ruins of a dying city. Into this cold, isolated world walks the evidence that life is flourishing elsewhere -- a refugee from the vast emptiness of forest, an individual whose very existence inspires Makepeace to take to the road to reconnect with human society.
What Makepeace finds is a world that is unravelling -- stockaded villages enforcing a rough and uncertain justice, mysterious slave camps labouring to harness the little understood
technologies of a vanished civilization. But Makepeace’s journey also leads to unexpected human contact, tenderness and the dark secrets behind this frozen world. Far North is a quest through an unforgettable Arctic landscape, from humanity’s origins to its likely end. Bleak, haunting, spare -- and yet
ultimately hopeful -- the novel is suffused with an ecstatic awareness of the world’s fragility and beauty, and its unexpected ability to recover from our worst trespasses. |
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Critical Praise for
Far North
“An atmospheric tale of a near-future dystopia . . . . One for fans of Margaret Atwood.”
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Evening Standard
“Sombre, imaginative and extremely well written.”
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The Times (London)
"Theroux’s postapocalyptic road novel will inevitably be compared to that other postapocalyptic road novel Oprah liked, and while Theroux (son of Paul) is not the existential stylist McCarthy is, he is a superior plotter. . . . Theroux succeeds in crafting a wildly eccentric and intelligent page-turner that’s ultimately and strangely hopeful."
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Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Marcel Theroux conveys in this novel a sense of how precarious and precious our technologically maintained liberal democracies are. . . .Theroux is a master storyteller.”
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The Independent (5 out of 5 stars)
"A compelling thriller. . . . The novel builds to an exhilarating climax.”
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The Times (London) on A Blow to the Heart
“An engaging mystery and an illuminating story about family secrets and
identity.”
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The Times (London) on The Paperchase
"Marcel Theroux delivers a masterly
sleight-of-hand in his latest novel Far North....This
is an action-packed, dystopian adventure story with cracking set pieces."
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Tatler UK
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Far North
Far North is a deeply haunting speculative novel about the lone survivor of a settlement of American pioneers in Arctic Russia. Driven to leave the settlement by isolation and loneliness, the survivor, Makepeace, begins a journey through the ravaged Siberian landscape and encounters an unravelling...
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