The Company [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Arabella Edge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 5, 2001

""I, Jeronimus, am a man of phials, a measurer of powders on bronze scales, a potion brewer, an opium and arsenic merchant. The primped and perfumed Amsterdam burghers came to me in droves requiring cures for fevers, love balms, the miscarriage of a bastard child, and, of course, poisons. Ah, poisons.""

So speaks Jeronimus Cornelisz, a thirty-year-old apothecary who transforms before our eyes into a murderous madman.

"The Company" is a novel based on the 1629 voyage of the Dutch East India Company flagship Batavia, bound for the colonies with a cargo of untold riches. Among the passengers is Cornelisz, a man ousted from polite society by sordid rumors of necromancy. Corrupt to the very marrow of his soul, Cornelisz considers himself God's equal, the rightful heir to gold, silver -- even another man's wife. So twisted is he by lust and greed that he incites a mutiny, running the ship aground on a reef.

All is lost -- the ship is wrecked, its passengers dying, the treasure trashed at the bottom of the sea. "The apothecary will heal us," the survivors pray, believing themselves lucky to be alive. In the name of benevolence, Cornelisz seizes command of their island refuge. The brave castaways stir with hope -- until the killing begins. For forty frenzied days, Cornelisz decides who shall live and who shall die, leaving his victims with just one wish -- that they had gone down with the ship.

Soaked with the blood of the innocent and the wicked, "The Company" plunges, with the weight of history, deep into the heart of darkness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like The Lord of the Flies, to which it will inevitably be compared, this fiction debut about the 1629 wreck of the Batavia off the coast of Australia suggests that Robinson Crusoe was lucky to be marooned alone. In the mid-1600s, the Dutch East India Company sponsored a fleet of merchant ships sailing for the Dutch colonies (today's Indonesia). The fleet's flagship, the Batavia, was carrying "precious artifacts to trade with plump sultans of Mogul courts" when it struck a reef. The narrator of this fictionalized version of the well-known story is Jeronimus Cornelisz, a 30-year-old apothecary forced to flee Amsterdam after discovery of his participation in "secret pagan rites." After the passengers are offloaded to a barren island, the Commandeur (the company's chief representative) and the skipper sail off in the one usable lifeboat to seek rescue. In their absence, Cornelisz, who believes himself fated to "receive fortunes and be elected an emperor among men," and whose hysterical inability to leave the foundering ship until several days have elapsed is mistaken for chivalry, becomes leader. Before long, he exploits the survivors' trust and establishes a reign of terror. The present-tense, first-person narrative places the reader squarely inside Cornelisz's twisted mind; obtuse and self-absorbed, he is increasingly unreliable and deranged. Suspense lies in guessing at how long Cornelisz will last and how far he will go with bloodshed and debauchery. A mixture of classic sea-adventure yarn and grisly thriller, the book is unlikely to do as well here as it did in Australia, where it was a bestseller and prize winner, but its psychopathic narrator seems a natural for a Hollywood movie. Agent, Emma Sweeney at Harold Ober.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Based on the true story of the wreck of the Batavia off the western coast of Australia in 1629, this disturbing debut novel focuses on Jeronimus Cornelisz, one of the most gruesome creations in recent literature. From a young age, Jeronimus is fascinated with rape, violence, and, most of all, drugs. After the death of his father, the mysterious Torrentius takes Jeronimus under his wing, convincing the young man of the glory of evil and teaching him the art of the apothecary. At the age of 30, Jeronimus poses as a merchant traveling on the ill-fated Batavia. Once on shore, the survivors turn to the articulate, intelligent apothecary in hopes that he will be their salvation. Electing himself ruler of this newfound kingdom, Jeronimus then sets out to reduce the number of his subjects in order to stretch the meager supplies. At first the deaths are subtle, but by the end there is naked savagery and violence. Although many Americans will not be familiar with the history behind the story, those who can stomach the violence will be drawn in. Recommended for larger public libraries. Wendy Bethel, Grove City P.L., OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (July 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743213424
• ISBN-13: 978-0743213424
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,637,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars KIRKUS REVIEWS, June 19, 2001

By 

Simon & Schuster - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Company (Hardcover)

"An engrossing debut novel from an English writer now living in Australia, cited as Best First Book in a recent Commonwealth Writers Prize competition. The story's based on a historical incident: the wrecking of a Dutch East Indies flagship, the BATAVIA, on a coral reef off the western coast of Austrialia in 1629--and also on the real-life figure of Jeronimus Cornelisz, a Dutch apothecary who led a murderous mutiny of shipwreck survivors against others of their fellow passengers and the BATAVIA's crew. Edge tells this from the viewpoint of Cornelisz, a serial prisoner who had faked his way on board the ship in order to escape prosecution for his crimes--which are revealed in meditative flashbacks juxtaposed with a spine-tingling episodic account of the survivors' 40-day ordeal on the nearby Abrolhos Islands. Cornelisz is thus gradually revealed to us as the product of a stunted family environment (his father is a brutal sexual predator, his mother a passive religious zealot); the willing student of his Dostoevskyan mentor Torrentius, a wealthy epicurean artist who might have been a crony of Aleister Crowley's; and a deranged visionary who imagines he has committed evil acts in previous lives (having, for example, delivered Joan of Arc up to her martyrdom). Cornelisz is both a memorable Faustian monster and--in an impressive feat of symbolic suggestion--a nightmarish incarnation of the ruthlessness and avarice at the heart of Dutch mercantile culture ("Trade--what will a man not give in exchange for his soul?"). The scenes in which he manipulates "a drunken group of corporate boys" (the overindulged sons of rich merchants) to do his lethal bidding are rendered even more compelling by the psychotic intricacy of Cornelisz's crafty self-justifications. A stimulating mix of OLIVER TWIST, LORD OF THE FLIES, and two great Australian novels: Thomas Keneally's THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH and Patrick White's A FRINGE OF LEAVES. And, both because of and despite these echoes, a stunningly original triumph for a brilliant newcomer." KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A different kind of suspense thriller, June 14, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Company (Hardcover)

In 1628, apothecary Jeronimus Cornelisz flees Amsterdam because some of his views on sorcery are considered heresy. In spite of his assisting the city's burghers with various vials including poisons, Jeronimus knows his exile must start immediately. His need to leave town forces the pompous Jeronimus to travel by sea, a mode of transportation he loathes. Still Jeronimus becomes a passenger on the Dutch East India ship Batavia heading to Indonesia.

While sailing on the endless oceans, Jeronimus realizes the ship carries a fortune that he believes should be his by divine right. He also lusts after another passenger, who spurns his efforts at courting. Still, Jeronimus manages to use his charismatic personality to incite a mutiny. Soon, the Batavia runs aground with many dying at sea. Those who survive soon turn to "the seducer of men" to keep them safe until a rescue ship can arrive. Instead of a leader of a temporary haven, Jeronimus begins forty days of torture, mayhem, and murder.

THE COMPANY is a powerful historical fiction told in the first person by the beguiling villain. The story line is frightening because it is based on a true incident and person. Arabella's Edge's research into Jeronimus allows the reader to see behind his charm into the head of this psychopathic megalomaniac. Yet his fellow mutineers and survivors fell right into his devilish allure. Genre fans will have a field day with this novel, especially comparing this diabolical individual with some of history's charismatic, but deadly tyrants.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gruesome Tale Well Told, August 28, 2001

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Company (Hardcover)

Arabella Edge's The Company (The Story of a Murderer) is a fictionalized account of the wreck of the Batavia in 1629 off the coast of Western Australia told from the point of view of the leader of the mutineers, Jeronimus Cornelisz. It is a well written book that becomes very difficult to read as it progresses and the endless horrors and atrocities continue unabated. As it is narrated by such a powerful character who is presented from the first as evil (mixed with cowardice, a dealy combination) and without any moral compass, the novel does not develop the horrors slowly but simply presents them one after another after another leaving the reader numb. The author is skilled at this piling on of horrors and creates moments of surprise throughout although finding a meaning to all of this terror seems rather futile. This book never reaches the level of Lord of the Flies but is nastily effective, in its own right, at relentlessly showing man's baser nature.