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Zusatztext PRAISE FOR JOSEPH O'CONNOR "Joseph O'Connor has a great eye for the absurd in common things, a great ear for the comic in ordinary speech. His writing is terrific."--Roddy Doyle PRAISE FOR THE SALESMAN "Powerful . . . freewheeling and supple, switching between the comic, the candid, and the profane."-- The New York Times Book Review "Gripping . . . O'Connor's dialogue is by turns bristling and bleak, tender and funny, and his characters are free of stereotypes."-- The Wall Street Journal Informationen zum Autor JOSEPH O'CONNOR is the multi-award-winning author of several widely acclaimed novels, including Cowboys & Indians, Desperadoes, The Salesman, and Shadowplay . He has also written criticism, plays, and screenplays, and edited Yeats Is Dead!. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Klappentext Award-winning author Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea is a New York Times Notable Book and "thoroughly gripping" (People) historical mystery. In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by famine and injustice, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. On board are hundreds of refugees, some optimistic, many more desperate. Among them are a maid with a devastating secret, the bankrupt Lord Merridith, his wife and children, and a killer stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution. This journey will see many lives end, others begin anew. Passionate loves are tenderly recalled, shirked responsibilities regretted too late, and profound relationships shockingly revealed. In this spellbinding tale of tragedy and mercy, love and healing, the farther the ship sails toward the Promised Land, the more her passengers seem moored to a past that will never let them go. As urgently contemporary as it is historical, this exciting and compassionate novel builds with the pace of a thriller to a stunning conclusion. Leseprobe CHAPTER I The Leave-Taking The FIRST of our TWENTY-SIX days at Sea: in which Our Protector records some essential Particulars, and the Circumstances attending our setting-out. VIII NOV. MDCCCXLVII MONDAY THE EIGHTH DAY OF NOVEMBER, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN TWENTY-FIVE DAYS AT SEA REMAINING. The following is the only register of Josias Tuke Lockwood, Master of Vessel, signed and written in his own hand; and I attest it on my solemn honour a compleat and true account of the voyage, and neither has any matter pertinent been omitted. LONG: 10°16.7'W. LAT: 51°35.5'N. ACTUAL GREENWICH STANDARD TIME: 8.17 P.M. WIND DIR. & SPEED: S.S.W. Force 4. BUFFETING SEAS: rough. HEADING: W.N.W. 282.7°. PRECIPITATION. & REMARKS: Mild mist all the day but very cold and clear night. Upper riggings encrusted with ice. Dursey Island to starboard. Tearagh Isld visible at 52°4.5'N, 10°39.7'W, most westerly point of Ireland and therefore of the United Kingdom. (Property of the Earl of Cork.) NAME OF VESSEL: The Star of the Sea (formerly the Golden Lady). BUILDER: John Wood, Port Glasgow (prop. engines by M. Brunel). OWNER: Silver Star Shipping Line & Co. PREVIOUS VOYAGE: Dublin Port (South Docks) - Liverpool - Dublin Kingstown. PORT OF EMBARKATION: Queenstown (or The Cove). 51°51'N; 008°18'W. PORT OF DESTINATION: New York. 40°.42'N; 74°.02'W. DISTANCE: 2,768 nautical miles direct: to be factorised for tacking into westerlies. FIRST MATE: Thos. Leeson. ROYAL MAIL AGENT: George Wellesley Esq. (accompnd. by a servant, Briggs). WEIGHT OF VESSEL: 1,154 gross tons. LENGTH OF VESSEL: 207 ft ¥ beam 34 ft. GENERAL: clipper bows, one funnel, three square-rig masts (rigged for sail), oaken hull (copperfastened), three decks, a poop and topgallant forecastle, side-paddle wheel propu...
