The Voyage Home [Paperback]

Jane Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2005

Anne, a woman in her 30s, is bringing home the body of her missionary father, David, who has died suddenly in Nigeria. She has decided to take the long way home, by container ship, to help her come to terms with his death. What she has not reckoned with though is that she gets involved both with two stowaways (clandestinely) and the ship's mate (sexually) and that the journey will end in murder. Nor, for that matter, that reading her father's diaries will reveal that she has an illegitimate sibling, whose fate her father was seeking when he died and whom she too must attempt to find in order to make peace with herself. In 'The Voyage Home', Jane Rogers Takes important comtemporary themes (immigration, colonialism) and uses them as a basis for a profound and page-turning novel.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The measured pace of Rogers's narrative is perfectly suited to the brooding style of this psychological exploration of past sins and present-day guilt. Anne Harrington's missionary father has died in Africa, so the 37-year-old schoolteacher leaves London to oversee the final disposition of his affairs. Duties completed, Anne returns home via container ship—a journey that will take several weeks—because she needs the time "to find out what she feels" about his death. Onboard, she begins the ill-advised task of reading the journal he kept in the 1960s when he and her mother first moved to Nigeria. His entries reveal disconcerting secrets that open a chasm between Anne's memories and the written record. Then a stowaway beseeches Anne to help him and his pregnant wife. Anne ignores her gut feelings, does what she thinks is best for the couple and is plunged headlong into a complicated eddy of murder and deception over which she has no control. While Rogers creates a first-rate parallel between the settlement of Anne's internal conflict and the resolution of the issues aboard ship, the novel's conclusion is disappointingly flat. Still, this is a lusciously written tale, rich in emotional nuance. FYI: Rogers's previous novels have won several awards, including the Orange Prize (Island) and the Somerset Maugham Award (Her Living Image).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The themes of faith and betrayal suffuse this spellbinding psychological thriller from critically acclaimed British writer Rogers. Sailing back home to England following her missionary father's funeral in Nigeria, 37-year-old British art teacher Anne Harrington hopes for the peace and tranquility afforded by a long sea journey. But her anticipated solace is shattered on the first night aboard ship, when she encounters a stowaway and his deathly ill pregnant wife. Haunted by the experience, and conflicted over what course of action to take, Anne retreats to her cabin and into the pages of her father's diary and its startling revelations of a less-than-pious past. As she becomes personally involved in the stowaways' predicament, Anne, who has never shared her father's religious convictions, discovers surprising parallels between his life and her own. The author of seven novels, including Mr. Wroe's Virgins (which she adapted into an award-winning drama for the BBC), Rogers is a master at blending gripping narrative and nuanced prose. Clear your schedule for this one: once you start, you won't want to let go. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Overlook TP (November 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585677078
• ISBN-13: 978-1585677078
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,354,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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