09/23/2019
North (The Gameshouse) masterfully explores the weight of guilt and the power of truth in this dark historical fantasy. Sister Ellis is working as a nurse in France during WWI when she meets William Abbey, an Englishman who was cursed by the mother of a boy whose life he failed to save when he was a young doctor in Natal, South Africa in 1884. The novel is framed as Abbey sharing his story with Sister Ellis, telling of his employment as a spy for Great Britain, his epic love affair, and the ghastly shadow that dogs his every move. This shadow spirit’s presence gives Abbey the power to see the truth of men’s hearts, but it will kill those he loves if it catches him. Wracked with guilt over his past and enabled by his curse to see the evil motivations of the cruel imperialist he serves, Abbey sets out on a violent quest for revenge against his colonialist masters. North unflinchingly describes the ruthlessness of imperialism, but her choice to use a straight white male character to fight back against the exploitation of colonialism muddies her message. Readers will find this fantastical thriller as entrancing as it is disturbing. Agent: Meg Davis, Ki Agency (Nov.)
"There is no piece of The Pursuit that is forgettable ... It is beautiful. It has, buried deep inside, a hopeful heart."—NPR
"True love, life, and death, what's worth dying-or killing-for: It's all here in this gripping, bloody, and haunting novel."—Kirkus on The Pursuit of William Abbey
"In rich, compelling prose, North weaves together the threads of imperial control, ideological conviction, love and the thrill of power. Readers will remain eager to the end for answers."—Shelf Awareness on The Pursuit of William Abbey
"North has established a reputation for tense, dense, science fiction/fantasy-inflected thrillers that defy facile explanations... Well-paced, brilliant and balanced."—New York Times on The Sudden Appearance of Hope
"Wholly original and hauntingly beautiful. North is a writer to watch."—Kirkus on The End of the Day
"North is an exciting voice in contemporary fantasy."—San Francisco Chronicle on The End of the Day
"North is an original and even dazzling writer."—Kirkus on 84K
"Evocative, thought-provoking... I'll read anything she writes."—Omnivoracious on 84K
"Another captivating novel from one of the most intriguing and genre-bending novelists currently working in the intersection between thriller and science fiction."—Booklist (starred review) on 84K
"Claire North is one hell of a writer."—C. L. Taylor, author of The Accident on Touch
"Claire North's writing is terrific, smart, and entertaining."—Patrick Ness on The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
10/25/2019
North (The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August) here tells a story within a story, interweaving the tale of South African doctor William Abbey in the 1880s, who is cursed for not interceding when white townspeople kill an African boy, and the narrative of a World War I convalescent hospital. Abbey, now walking the earth as a truth speaker driven to proclaim what he sees in people's hearts before fleeing the unstoppable, shadowy soul of the murdered boy, finds a conversational partner in one of the hospital's nurses. The story intends to depict both the colonized, illustrating the brutal competition for resources and power, and the colonizers, whose descendants are haunted by the legacy of their ancestors. In early chapters, North uses intentionally disturbing language—commonly used by Victorian-era whites—and imagery to describe African characters and the things that happen to them. Such language seems to be employed here to drive home the atrocities of colonialism but may be upsetting for some readers. VERDICT Recommended for fantasy fans with a penchant for darker story lines that investigate themes of colonialism and struggles for power. [See Prepub Alert, 5/5/19.]—Monica Howell, Northwestern Health Sciences Univ. Lib., Bloomington, MN
Narrator Peter Kenny shows his incredible range in this world-hopping tribute to “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” in which the titular character is cursed by the shadow of a person whose life he did not save. To outrun the shadow, William Abbey travels the world, and this allows Kenny to use a myriad of accents, smoothly transitioning from one to the next. Because he is telling a story within a story, Kenny must change perspectives quickly, and here he especially shines. As the story moves from Abbey's perspective to that of the nun who hears his tale, the listener actually forgets the narrator is the same person as before. As the tension ratchets up, Kenny hooks the listener. Be prepared to stay up late into the night to reach the end. A.R.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Narrator Peter Kenny shows his incredible range in this world-hopping tribute to “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” in which the titular character is cursed by the shadow of a person whose life he did not save. To outrun the shadow, William Abbey travels the world, and this allows Kenny to use a myriad of accents, smoothly transitioning from one to the next. Because he is telling a story within a story, Kenny must change perspectives quickly, and here he especially shines. As the story moves from Abbey's perspective to that of the nun who hears his tale, the listener actually forgets the narrator is the same person as before. As the tension ratchets up, Kenny hooks the listener. Be prepared to stay up late into the night to reach the end. A.R.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
2019-09-30
A suspenseful tale of the truths that lie hidden in the human heart.
English doctor William Abbey stood by and said nothing while a white mob set a Zulu boy on fire in Natal in 1884. The boy's mother cursed him, and now the shadow of the boy who died follows him implacably wherever he goes. As the shadow draws near, Abbey sees the truth in people's hearts; if it reaches him, someone he loves dies. Where he sees a curse, others see a tool, and before long, he's drawn into service as a spy. Abbey says he wants a cure for his condition, but it's when he meets a woman like him that what he truly wants, and what he'll do to get it, starts to become clear. North (The Gameshouse, 2019, etc.) has reached back into her seemingly bottomless bag of tricks and pulled out another striking and unusual story—and this one marries an original concept with a straightforwardly suspenseful plot, making it more accessible than some of her other recent work. "Truth," says one of the truth-speakers, "is imperceptible to human eyes, because we are so caught up in being ourselves that we are never simply here, seeing, here, being, here." This is a world-spanning cat-and-mouse chase that tackles big questions about the nature of truth and whether we can ever really know one another or ourselves.
True love, life and death, what's worth dying—or killing—for: It's all here in this gripping, bloody, and haunting novel.
