An Ocean of Minutes
the heartbreaking and emotional debut
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- € 3,99
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- € 3,99
Beschrijving uitgever
When a deadly flu pandemic threatens America, Polly must risk it all to save the man she loves...
Polly and Frank are young and in love, a lifetime together before them. But one evening in 1980, as the Texas sun sets over their shoulders, the world is suddenly pulled apart by a deadly virus. Within months, Frank is dying. Polly can save him, but only if she agrees to a radical plan: to time travel to 1993 for a corporation who can fund his life-saving treatment. She can only go forward, she cannot go back. And she must leave everything she loves behind, including Frank.
All they have is the promise of a future together: they will find each other again in twelve years' time, in Galveston, Texas, where the sea begins. But when something goes wrong and Polly arrives late, Frank is nowhere to be found. Completely alone, Polly must navigate a terrifying new world to find him, and to discover if their love has endured.
A heartbreaking and timely novel about courage, yearning, the cost of holding onto the past - and the price of letting it go.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GILLER PRIZE 2018
'An Ocean of Minutes is that rare thing - a speculative novel that is as heartfelt as it is philosophical. An original and compelling novel unlike anything you'll read this year'
Esi Edugyan, author of Washington Black
'The clear-eyed, evocative writing here is reminiscent of Margaret Atwood, and anyone familiar with The Handmaid's Tale will find resonance in these pages... a devastating debut'
Toronto Star
'An Ocean Of Minutes absolutely swept me away'
Red Magazine
'A profound meditation on the inhumanity of class and the limits of love... This is a story about the malleability of time, but at its core lives something timeless'
Omar El Akkad, author of American War
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lim's stellar follow-up to 2007's The Same Woman concerns Polly Nader, who signs an agreement to travel through time from 1981 to 1993 to save her boyfriend. During a road trip in 1981, Buffalo residents Polly and Frank are stuck in Texas as state borders are closed to prevent a virulent strain of flu from spreading. Due to time-travel limitations, doctors are unable to travel back far enough to prevent the pandemic's onset, but people are being recruited by the company TimeRaiser to help rebuild the future. After Frank is infected by the virus, the two decide to separate; Polly strikes a 32-month deal to work for TimeRaiser and plans to reunite with Frank upon arrival. Bonded workers spend their time doing jobs like riding exercise bikes for hours in order to power resorts and are disparagingly referred to as journeymen in a future where the country has been divided into the United States and America. Polly is in the latter (composed mainly of resorts for the wealthy), but Buffalo where Polly assumes Frank is is in the former. Polly's lowly status and lack of funds keep her from knowing if Frank is even alive, and she isn't allowed to leave America for the United States until her contract is up. She endures betrayals and despair as she tries to break free of her servitude and make the potentially hopeless journey to find Frank. Lim's enthralling novel succeeds on every level: as a love story, an imaginative thriller, and a dystopian narrative.