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Arctic Summer

By: Damon Galgut
Narrated by: Finlay Robertson
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In 1912, the SS Birmingham approaches India. On board is Morgan Forster, novelist and man of letters. It will be another 12 years, and a second time spent in India, before A Passage to India, E. M. Forster's great work of literature, is published. During these years, Morgan will come to a profound understanding of the infinite subtleties and complexity of human nature.

©2014 Damon Galgut (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Biography
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Critic reviews

"A fictional exploration of the life and times of one of Britain's finest novelists, E. M. Forster, from a twice Man Booker shortlisted author"
"Galgut seems the most likely of the crop of young South African novelists to fill J.M. Coetzee’s shoes." ( Guardian)
"Invites comparison with Greene, Conrad and Naipaul." ( Daily Telegraph)
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At times, there were a few mistakes that caught my attention. When I heard the narrator announce that Morgan had married, I thought that was a surprising flight of fancy, but he meant Mohammed.

The story was interesting and helped me feel more sympathetic towards Forster than before.

Well researched and imagined.

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I thought this was a brilliant novel, focusing not only on Forster's adventures in India, the genesis of Passage to India and Maurice, but also those he meets along the way, such as the Woolfs, Cavafy and Carpenter. Galgut brings this lost time to life and Finlay Robertson does an admirable job in narrating.

Passage to India's Past

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Beautiful tender and utterly believable account of Morgan Foster's life. His slow acceptance of himself as a minorite, and even as writer. I loved every word.

My book of the year so far.

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Makes Forster’s life sound so boring. Like George Lucas’ effort to retroactively insert evidence of events that apparently inspired moments in his future published works.

Dull and plodding

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I've listened to about 20 minutes of this book, and given it a chance, but it's not remotely what I expected. Still trying to find out how to return it.

A truly hateful book.

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