The North Water
A major BBC TV series starring Colin Farrell, Jack O'Connell and Stephen Graham
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The North Water
Narrated by:
John Keating
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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John Keating
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By:
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Ian McGuire
About this listen
A ship sets sail with a killer on board . . .
1859. A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters, Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship's surgeon on this ill-fated voyage. But when, deep into the journey, a cabin boy is discovered brutally killed, Sumner finds himself forced to act. Soon he will face an evil even greater than he had encountered at the siege of Delhi, in the shape of Henry Drax: harpooner, murderer, monster . . .
'A tour de force' Hilary Mantel
'Riveting and darkly brilliant' Colm Tóibín
'One of my favourite books ever' Richard Osman
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Critic reviews
'A stunning achievement, by turns great fun and shocking, thrilling and provocative. Behold: one of the finest books of the year' (James Kidd, Independent on The North Water)
'McGuire delivers one bravura set-piece after another . . . The North Water has, in places, a Conrad–Melville undercurrent, but for the most part it is Dickens’s influence that is most keenly felt . . . This is a stunning novel, one that snares the reader from the outset and keeps the tightest grip until its bitter end' (Financial Times on The North Water)
'Horrifically gripping. Such fine writing might have been lifted from the pages of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick’ (Independent on Sunday on The North Water)
'Terrific, seamed with pitch black humour and possessed of a momentum that's kept up to the final, unexpected but resoundingly satisfying scene ... Inspired' (Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail on The North Water)
'As a storyteller, McGuire has a sure and unwavering touch, and he has engineered a superbly compelling suspense narrative . . . As a stylist, too, McGuire is never less than assured . . . a writer of exceptional craft and confidence' (Paraic O'Connell, Irish times on The North Water)
'Raw and compulsively readable . . . think The Revenant for the Arctic Circle' (The Millions on The North Water)
'Terse, grisly...Henry Drax, chief harpooner on board the Volunteer, is the dark presence around whom the novel revolves and what a presence. One thing’s for certain: like Moby Dick, this book is not about the fish.'
'This book is quite a ride . . . The powerful story and the riches of the setting do not romanticise the past' (Erica Wagner, New Statesman on The North Water)
'The North Water has exceptional power and energy' (Nick Rennison, Sunday Times on The North Water)
'A vivid read, full of twists, turns, period detail and strong characters . . . An enjoyable contrast to most literary fiction' (Robbie Millen, The Times on The North Water)
'Brilliant, fast-paced, gripping. A tour de force of narrative tension and a masterful reconstruction of a lost world' (Hilary Mantel on The North Water)
‘Riveting and darkly brilliant . . . The North Water feels like the result of an encounter between Joseph Conrad and Cormac McCarthy in some run-down port as they offer each other a long, sour nod of recognition. McGuire has an extraordinary talent’ (Colm Toibin, New York Times on The North Water)
'A novel that takes us to the limits of flesh and blood. Utterly convincing and compelling, remorselessly vivid and insidiously witty. A startling achievement' (Martin Amis on The North Water)
Brilliant
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What did you like best about The North Water? What did you like least?
The central story, the descriptive passages and the main character's rememberances were well crafted and compelling ... BUT ... way too much needless, grating and gratuitous swearing. It may be an acceptable (and possible historically accurate) way of establishing the base and crude nature of the whaling men, but when ALL the characters - including businessmen, priests and eskimos - constantly, casually and needlessly pepper their dialogue with the F-word and the C-word, it becomes exasperating and severely detracts from the otherwise faultless narrative.A good story ... spoiled
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Great story, read well.
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misjudged narrator
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An excellent book. Fast paced. Three dimensional characters. Based on thourough research. Not for the faint hearted though.
Excellent in every detail
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