As Flies to Whatless Boys
A Novel
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- 54,99 zł
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- 54,99 zł
Publisher Description
Spanning from Victorian England to the West Indies, this is a prize-winning novel of adventure, love, comedy, and tragedy.
In 1845 London, engineer, philosopher, philanthropist, and bold-faced charlatan John Adolphus Etzler, has invented machines that he thinks will transform the division of labor and free all men. He forms a collective called the Tropical Emigration Society, and recruits a variety of London citizens to take his machines and his misguided ideas to form a proto-socialist, utopian community in the British colony of Trinidad.
Among his recruits is a young boy named Willy, who falls head-over-heels for the enthralling and wise Marguerite Whitechurch. Coming from the gentry, Marguerite is a world away from Willy’s laboring class. But as the voyage continues, and their love for one another strengthens, Willy and Marguerite may prove themselves to be the true idealists—in this “rollicking” tale that was named a Favorite Novel of the Year by Tin House and one of Edwidge Danticat’s Best Books of the Year in the New Yorker (Library Journal).
“William’s account of young love attests to Antoni’s fluency in the poetry of nostalgia. In words as vibrant as the personalities he creates, Antoni deftly captures unconquered territories and the risks we’re willing to take exploring them.” —Publishers Weekly
“The emotional influence of Willy’s narrative—his loving descriptions of the people who surround him—is profoundly effective . . . Strikes strong emotional chords.” —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Trinidad is the sultry backdrop for an intricately imagined historical novel from Antoni (Carnival) about voyages of discovery undertaken generations apart. In 1881, William Tucker, soon to return to London, tells his son the story of why their family left England in 1845. William's father had fallen in with the bombastic German inventor J.A. Etzler, who claimed his Satellite machine could "save the labouring-masses" and revolutionize agriculture that is, if he could test it at a new-world colony. Only after sailing to Trinidad aboard the Rosalind did Etzler's colonists discover the full extent of his "boldface bamboozlement." Still, the transatlantic pilgrimage nurtured William's first love, with mute, beautiful Marguerite. The mystery of what happened to Etzler's colony and to Marguerite incites the present-tense storyline, consisting of e-mails Antoni receives from Trinidad archivist Miss Ramsol, whom he "subjuices" (her word) while researching his Tucker ancestry during a visit. Her bawdily funny, patois-heavy missives showcase Antoni's superlative ear for the intricacies of language, Caribbean rhythms in particular. And William's account of young love attests to Antoni's fluency in the poetry of nostalgia. In words as vibrant as the personalities he creates, Antoni deftly captures unconquered territories and the risks we're willing to take exploring them.