A newborn baby is the sole survivor of a terrifying plane crash. She is raised in wealthy isolation by an overprotective father. She knows nothing of the rumours about a beautiful young woman, hidden from the world.
When a suitor visits, he understands far more than he should. Forced to run for his life, he escapes aboard The Porpoise, an assassin on his tail... So begins a wild adventure of a novel, damp with salt spray, blood and tears.
A novel that leaps from the modern era to ancient times; a novel that soars, and sails, and burns long and bright; a novel that almost drowns in grief yet swims ashore.
Pirate's rampage, a princess wins a wrestler's hand and ghost women with lampreys' teeth drag a man to hell - and in which the members of a shattered family, adrift in a violent world, journey towards a place called home.
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[Maja is thirty seven weeks pregnant]***
(@vintagebooks, 8 May 2019, 336 pages, ebook, copy from @vintagebooks via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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I am a big fan of Mark Haddon. I've loved every book I've read so I had expectations for this one. I was not disappointed. This book is the perfect blend of myth, quest and adventure with a sprinkling of most things in between. The book has a lot of time shifts. I love books when they move back and forth in time though I hate it when this isn't signposted and I lose the thread of the when and where of the story. Haddon handles the time shifts perfectly. The book opens with a corker and I knew I was in for a good time. I loved every page. I love myth and Haddon offers something truly engrossing. I love it when authors are bold and attempt something original even when it doesn't quite pan out. Haddon ticks all the boxes with this one. The book tackles some dark subjects such as child abuse in a thought-provoking and triumphant way. This is one of the most original books I've read in ages.
