Juillet 1897. Un aéronaute suédois plein d'esprit, un journaliste américain fou de mécanique et un jeune et mystérieux aventurier grimpent dans un ballon. Direction le pôle Nord, qu'ils veulent être les premiers à atteindre. Tandis que ce petit monde dérive au-dessus de la banquise, les pensées du major Gustav Crispin, notre aéronaute, reviennent sans relâche sur son histoire tumultueuse avec l'exaspérante mais irrésistible Luisa. Sur les paysages blancs, Gustav convoque des souvenirs de P...

The acclaimed novel of love, ambition, and Arctic adventure "told with fin de siecle elegance"—with an introduction by Philip Pullman ( Kirkus Reviews).It is July 1897, at the northernmost reach of the inhabited world. Swedish inventor Gustav Crispin is determined to become the first person to set foot on the North Pole, and return, borne by hot air balloon. Making the expedition with two companions—an American journalist and a young, French-speaking adven...

A critical sensation when first published in 1976, THE BALLOONIST by MacDonald Harris is an intense love story told with the sci-fi adventure of Jules Verne. A Swedish scientist, an American journalist and a French-speaking adventurer attempt to become the first people to set foot on the North Pole, to arrive and return travelling in a huge red and white balloon.In 2006, Philip Pullman brought attention back to this classic text, highlighting the immense talent of the writer which ...

A band of misfits boards an airship to search for utopia, in this novel by the author of The Balloonist, a National Book Award finalist: "A delight" (Philip Pullman, author of The Amber Spyglass).An unemployed American metaphysician, a perpetually ill English nurse, a guilt-ridden German captain—they and a handful of others are about to board an airship called The League of Nations. Under the seductive spell of Moira, a mix of mystic, cul...

It is August of 1945. An American submarine, silent and hidden, moves toward the darkened coast of an island. On board are an an odd quartet: Gus, a commander who was once a student of religion; Angelo, a skilled navigator with a secret; Havenmeyer, who understands guns better than the complexities of the soul; and Ikeda, caught between two cultures and uncertain where his loyalty lies. Part adventure-thriller set in wartime Japan and partly a glimpse into the primitive world of the Ainu p...

An inventive historical novel that delves into the mysteries of gender identity, from the National Book Award–nominated author of The Balloonist.With a foreword by Michael ChabonAs a child in Southern California at the dawn of the twentieth century, Herma exhibits an incredible talent for vocal mimicry. Her gift will eventually take her from the choir of her country church to the Paris Opera, thanks in no small part to the machinations of ...

Airships, mysticism, erotic love and a Europe that is picking itself up after WW1, form the backdrop to this breathtaking novel. The League of Nations is a giant airship constructed by the same German factory that made the Zeppelin, and has been acquired by Moira, the mystic and clairvoyant leader of a semi-religious cult. The captain is Georg von Plautus, a Prussian WW1 Zeppelin commander who harbours a terrible secret from a bombing raid over London in 1916. Moira and her followers...

In 1980s LA, Alys, a wealthy young man, accepts a stranger's invitation to get him into the movies and finds himself plunged into the black and white world of the Silents, a Hollywood precisely as it was in the 1920s, where love is the only subject matter but passion can be expressed only within the censor's limits. Alys' love for the glamorous and elusive Moira Silver inevitably leads him to want to break out of this artifical world with her, back to garish LA. It is as tauntingly erotic ...

A merchant seaman is the sole survivor when his ship is sunk in a battle in the South Pacific. Badly burned, he is stripped of every shred of identity and cast into the sea, naked, faceless, nameless. Rescued and lying in a Pearl Harbor hospital, he is mistakenly identified as the missing Lt. Ben Davenant by Davenant's wife. In the moment, the man decides to go along, to take on Davenant's identity, to return with her to California and take on his life.Mortal Leap may remind some r...

Marjorie Harris Carr (1915-1997) is best known for leading the fight against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cross Florida Barge Canal. In this first full-length biography, Peggy Macdonald corrects many long-held misapprehensions about the self-described “housewife from Micanopy,” who struggled to balance career and family with her husband, Archie Carr, a pioneering conservation biologist.Born in Boston, Carr grew up in southwest Florida, exploring marshes and waterways and obser...

Archipelago is one of the most important and influential literary magazines of the lasttwenty years. Running to twelve editions, it was edited by Andrew McNeillie, with theassistance later of James McDonald Lockhart, and began as an attempt to reimagine therelationships between the islands of Ireland and Britain. Archipelago has brought togetherestablished and emerging artists in creative conversations that have transformed the studyof islands, coasts and...

Vardon on Golf is an amazing and riveting collection of the best writings of Harry Vardon. Vardon was golf's first superstar. The writings include instruction, inspiration and architecture. Vardon was a 7-time major champion and key figure in the game of golf. The Vardon Trophy is given to the PGA Tour player with the lowest scoring average and he was one of the initial inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame. His Vardon grip is still used by over 90% of golfers today. This book is trul...