Afterlands

by Heighton, Steven

• ISBN13: 9780618773411
• ISBN10: 061877341X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-02-05
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Summary

In 1871, nineteen men, women, and children, voyaging on the Arcticexplorer USS Polaris found themselves cast adrift on an ice floe as their ship began to founder. Based on one of the most remarkable events in polar history, Afterlands tells the haunting story of this small society of castaways -- a white and a black American, five Germans, a Dane, a Swede, an Englishman, and two Inuit families -- and the harrowing six months they spend marooned in the Arctic, struggling to survive both the harsh elements and one another. As the group splinters into factions along ethnic and national lines, rivalries -- complicated by sexual desire, unrequited love, extreme hunger, and suspicion -- begin to turn violent. Steven Heighton's provocative novel fills in the blanks of the Polaris's documented history and explores the shattering emotional and psychological consequences faced by those who survive.

Author Biography

STEVEN HEIGHTON is the internationally acclaimed author of the novels Afterlands and The Shadow Boxer, a Mariner Original that was selected as a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year. He has also written several books of poetry, short fiction, and essays. His work has received numerous awards and has been translated into nine languages.

Table of Contents

One Bury Me at Sea	p. 1
Two Versions of Loyalty	p. 43
Three Afterlands	p. 243
Last Versions	p. 399
Author""s Note	p. 404
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.