Desolation Island

Author: Peter Bush Adolfo Garcia Ortega
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Contemporary Fiction, Adventure Books
Book Format: Paperback

As the twentieth century draws to a close, a container ship heads for Punta Arenas, on the Straits of Magellan at Chile's southern tip. On board is Oliver Griffin, a Spaniard of Irish origin obsessed with invisibility. In the city's museum, Griffin seeks out the automaton he has seen his grandparents embracing in a honeymoon photograph. This fearsome metal warrior is a surviving relic of a proposed robotic army, commissioned by Philip II of Spain to guard the strait against the English.Griffin has long been fascinated by islands, and spends his life drawing maps of Desolation Island, where the Magellan Strait meets the Pacific. It was here that the automaton was discovered by a grieving woman scouring the archipelago for the bodies of her shipwrecked husband and son.Griffin relates the story of his life and travels while plunging through the streets of Funchal, Madeira. With a host of characters both real and imaginary, touches of Homer, Melville and Sebald, Desolation Island sets countless stories spinning around its central axis - the extraordinary automaton. Taking in sixteenth-century wizardry, court politics, the modern industry, the cinematic version of The Invisible Man and personal letters and family photographs, this mesmerising, original novel is a testament to man's insatiable desire for knowledge.Spanning four full centuries of adventure, Desolation Island is a classic seafaring tale, striking at the heart of that eternal mystery- our obsession with the sea, as terrible as it is irresistible.

About Adolfo Garcia Ortega
Adolfo Garcia Ortega was born in 1958 and lives in Madrid and Barcelona. He is a translator, literary critic, journalist and former editorial director of the prestigious Spanish publishing house Seix Barral. His critically acclaimed novels have won many prizes. Desolation Island is his first book to be translated into English.

(BK-9780099516934)

SKU BK-9780099516934
Barcode # 9780099516934
Brand Vintage
Artist / Author Peter Bush Adolfo Garcia Ortega
Shipping Weight 0.2900kg
Shipping Width 0.129m
Shipping Height 0.025m
Shipping Length 0.198m
Assembled Length 19.800m
Assembled Height 2.500m
Assembled Width 12.900m
Type Paperback

Be The First To Review This Product!

Help other Augoods users shop smarter by writing reviews for products you have purchased.

Write a product review

More From This Category