Voyageurs
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Product Description
Product Description
As adventure and discovery propel the plot forward, Elphinstone takes the reader back in time and intertwines the story with enduring themes of love, war and family ties.
About the Author
MARGARET ELPHINSTONE is the author of five novels including The Sea Road (2000) and Hy Brasil (2002). She has also written several books of non-fiction, poetry and many literary articles. Margaret has travelled widely in Iceland, Greenland and North America, and now lives in Glasgow where she is a senior English Lecturer at Strathclyde University.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Margaret Elphinstone deserves to be more widely read. This is her most ambitious and complex novel yet, and a deeper look at the themes explored in "The Sea Road" and "Hy Brazil". A journey across the Atlantic into the heart of Canada, a nation still in the process of formation, causes a young Quaker man to question every value and code of behaviour he has taken for granted. What began as a quest to discover the fate of his sister, who has mysteriously vanished into the wilderness, becomes a thrilling and disturbing encounter with a rich and complex civilization he has hitherto dismissed as "heathen savages".
Margaret Elphinstone wrote this book whilst on secondment to the University of Michigan, and travelled by canoe herself to research it. The attention to detail shows, as the landscape of the Canadian borderlands is brought vividly to life, and so completely does she inhabit the mind of her narrator and mimic the form of a genuine memoir, that the reader feels as if they are travelling beside him as his journey changes him to the depths of his being.
In addition, the story is well-paced and gripping; the pages turn quickly as the reader draws closer to the solution to the mystery, but there are no straightforward answers; the purpose of the journey becomes less important than the experience itself, both for the narrator and for the reader.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I would recommend this book to anyone. It is deeply researched, on every level, and shows a clear-headed understanding of the human psyche. It is a an epic, rich satisfying tale of a man's personal journey - physical and emotional - and the people he meets on the way, from his sheltered life as a Quaker in the Lake District to the wilds of Canada. It gives an incredible insight into the lives of the early fur traders, and the historical events surrounding them, as well as painting a sympathetic portrait of the Quakers. I was sad to put the book down at the end.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Since reading this novel I have bought two more copies as Christmas presents. It is written in the form of a fictional memoir, and tells the story of Mark Greenhow, a young Quaker from the English Lake District, who travels to Canada in the 1800s to search for his missing sister. The story, with this mystery at its heart, retains its hold through a long, complicated, but deeply satisfying narrative involving the Native American tribes and the various nationalities engaged in the fur trade around the Great Lakes. The story is meticulously researched and there are wonderful descriptions of landscape and weather and the struggle for survival in winter. The main characters have real depth, and Mark's memoir, with its digressions and footnotes about his subsequent life and faith, shows how he changes in response to his extraordinary experiences.
Although I liked the leisurely pace of this book, I felt that the narrative was over-long in places and that some pruning, particularly of details about the war, would have improved it. However, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical novels. It's a most unusual story, full of interest and variety.
Although I liked the leisurely pace of this book, I felt that the narrative was over-long in places and that some pruning, particularly of details about the war, would have improved it. However, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical novels. It's a most unusual story, full of interest and variety.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
voyageurs
This is written as the diary of a young Quaker from the english Lake District travelling in the wilds of canada. Read more
Published 2 months ago by CW
Impressive and enjoyable
On opening this novel I felt as though I had stumbled upon a lost masterpiece by Robert Louis Stevenson. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Timbo
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