Wegener's Jigsaw [Hardcover]

'Scrupulously researched and intensely imagined...It is an ambitious undertaking - beautifully, sinuously written...an outstanding delight' -- Scotland on Sunday 'A beautiful first person narrative of this passionate man's life' -- The Times 'Compelling ... a splendid depiction of a time, not so long ago, when science could still cost you your life.' -- Jon Turney, Independent 20030524 'Mesmerisingly beautiful' -- Sarah Broadhurst, The Bookseller 20030524 'A fascinating thriller.' -- Sunday Business Post 20030524 'The author's beautiful descriptive narrative relives Wegener's life in a tale of obsession and endurance...this is a gripping tale compellingly told, a jigsaw that's a pleasure to read.' -- The Chester Chronicle 20030523 'Crisp, poetic prose' -- Observer 20030330

'Crisp, poetic prose'

'Mesmerisingly beautiful'

...a fascinating thriller...deserves to have much success.

It is an ambitious undertaking - beautifully, sinuously written...an outstanding delight

'A beautiful first person narrative of this passionate man's life'

...splendid vehicle for a depiction of a time, not so long ago, when science could still cost you your life.

Dudman has written a beautiful first person narrative of this passionate man's life.

'Compelling ... a splendid depiction of a time, not so long ago, when science could still cost you your life.'

'Scrupulously researched and intensely imagined...It is an ambitious undertaking - beautifully, sinuously written...an outstanding delight'

This is a rich and fascinating novel that combines the story of one man's obsession with the extraordinary adventures of the Arctic's first explorers, and the painful and wonderful experience of love. In this gripping and beautifully written book, Clare Dudman imaginatively recreates the life of the man whose theories of continental drift - derided in his lifetime - have revolutionised our perception of the world. Reaching record-breaking heights in hot air balloons, almost fatally injured in the First World War, and driven by a passion for ice and for a better understanding of the natural history of the world, Alfred Wegener was an extraordinary man. Dudman's descriptions of glaciers caving in and young men lost in the wilderness are thrilling, but "Wegener's Jigsaw" is also a story of courage: of Wegener's determination to prove his critics wrong, and of his wife's heartbreaking decision to let him go, to follow his dangerous - and ultimately deadly - dream. Wegener's remarkable story is largely unknown, and Dudman - whose magnificent writing has already won her two awards - has created a novel that should become a classic.

Clare Dudman has a PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry and has worked as an academic and industrial research scientist as well as a teacher in a secondary school. In 1995 her children's novel won the Kathleen Fidler award. She is married with two sons and lives in Chester.