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Gun Island

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What to expect

A spellbinding, globe-trotting novel by the bestselling author of the Ibis trilogy.

Bundook. Gun. A common word, but one which turns Deen Datta's world upside down.

A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen's eyes to the realities of growing up in today's world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey which will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood and about the world around him.

Gun Island is a beautifully realised novel which effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.

(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critics Review

With sweeping exuberant style and extraordinary linguistic facility Ghosh takes us into a world where desperate refugees trickle through borders like water from melting ice, but where massing animals find no escapes. Old legends and ancient myths take on new meaning. This important novel is an account of our current world, the one few writers have had the courage to face
Annie Proulx
A rich and rewarding novel that reaffirms the transformative power of topographical and human connection, and registers the rhythms of the quiet and the unquiet life
The Spectator
Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island is an extraordinary reading experience from one of our greatest living storytellers. Ghosh masterfully collocates disparate worlds to create a story of family, self, history, and destiny
Neel Mukherjee
A book of reckless and persuasive scope, a huge, rambunctious reckoning with our environmental declension
Sunday Times
In its blend of science, history, myth and contemporary relevance, Gun Island offers a rich mix of ideas
i
It demonstrates how the particular genius of the novel can be deployed to examine the subject of climate change in ways beyond the scope of journalism, history or documentary. Gun Island shows us how the psychological compulsions for order and security that drive our unwillingness to confront climate change are about to be first unsettled and then destroyed
Literary Review
A compelling book - a sinuous and often gripping piece of storytelling, satisfyingly shaped and beautifully written
Prospect
Author Amitav Ghosh
Narrator Sagar Arya
Duration 10 hours and 21 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529353020
Format Audiobook
Publisher John Murray Press
Genre Fiction: general and literary, Historical fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

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