{"product_id":"the-great-offshore-grounds-9781474614283","title":"The Great Offshore Grounds","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e''It blew me away'' \u003cb\u003eEmma Donoghue\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Large in scope and heart'' \u003cb\u003ePatrick deWitt\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Unforgettable'' \u003cb\u003eNathan Hill\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A blast'' \u003cb\u003eKaren Russell\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the day of their estranged father''s wedding, half-sisters Cheyenne and Livy set off to claim their inheritance. It''s been years since the two have seen each other - Cheyenne is newly back in Seattle after a failed marriage, Livy works refinishing boats - but the promise of a shot at financial security brings the two together to claim what''s theirs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExcept: instead of money, their father gives them information - \u003ci\u003ea name\u003c\/i\u003e - that reveals a stunning family secret. In the face of their new reality, the sisters each set out on journeys that will test their faith in each other, as well as their definitions of freedom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoving from Seattle''s underground to the docks of the Far North, from the hideaways of the southern swamps to the storied reaches of the Gr\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA magnificent beast of a novel\u003c\/b\u003e. Utterly engrossing. Original. One of the rare novels that understands the realities of American poverty. \u003cb\u003eEpic\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e * Roxane Gay *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Great Offshore Grounds\u003c\/i\u003e delivers on the promise Vanessa Veselka made with her excellent debut, \u003ci\u003eZazen\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eLarge in scope and hear\u003c\/b\u003et, Veselka skillfully illustrates human behaviors of every shade and iteration. She's a specialist, \u003cb\u003ea keen interpreter of our demented society\u003c\/b\u003e, and an enviable storyteller. \u003cb\u003eI've been waiting long years for this novel. It was worth the wait\u003c\/b\u003e. * Patrick deWitt, author of THE SISTERS BROTHERS *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Great Offshore Grounds\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eblew me away\u003c\/b\u003e. The tangled journeys of three siblings in the hardest of times pursuing freedom and love through a broken world will both move and dazzle readers. \u003cb\u003eWry, epic, glorious\u003c\/b\u003e. * Emma Donoghue, author of ROOM *\u003cbr\u003eVanessa Veselka is \u003cb\u003ean expert portraitist of the forgotten and left behind\u003c\/b\u003e, people struggling to make ends meet, broke and underemployed, people of deep humanity and shallow finances trying to find their place in dysfunctional America. \u003ci\u003eThe Great Offshore Grounds\u003c\/i\u003e is an unforgettable journey  through a country full of malice and greed and beauty and grace. A \u003cb\u003ebrilliant and fearless\u003c\/b\u003e book. * Nathan Hill, author of THE NIX *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Great Offshore Grounds\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003ereminded me of what a great novel can do \u003c\/b\u003e- Veselka's seafaring epic has the forward momentum of a grand adventure and the spiraling depth of a new myth. \u003cb\u003eAll the pleasure of eighteenth century storytelling renewed for our newborn millennium\u003c\/b\u003e. I love this textured, tonally complex wonder of a book, a quest for Melville's 'unimaginable sublimity' that never shies away from the messy flux of the body, or the oceanic scope of our shared global history. It's also \u003cb\u003ea blast to read \u003c\/b\u003e- darkly hilarious, astral, cerebral, suspenseful, warm-blooded, \u003cb\u003edivine\u003c\/b\u003e. * Karen Russell, author of SWAMPLANDIA! *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA deeply moving picaresque\u003c\/b\u003e... Veselka traces these arcs with empathy and an earthy sense of humor but also with a ruthless eye. She is \u003cb\u003ea remarkable writer, able to break through the surfaces of her narrative to reveal the animal chaos underneath\u003c\/b\u003e. * Los Angeles Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is a novel that feels like hitchhiking: the route is unpredictable but fated and exciting, with an air of treachery\u003c\/b\u003e. If you relate to the idea of desperate people doing desperate things for reasons only partly clear to themselves, you will find it thrilling. * Vulture *\u003cbr\u003eAnimating... For all its sweep and ambition, \u003ci\u003eThe Great Offshore Grounds\u003c\/i\u003e mercifully \u003cb\u003eremains driven by its characters' personal travails\u003c\/b\u003e... Portland, Ore.-based Veselka has an intuitive sense as to when she should break away from the big picture and home in on the little person. . . In Veselka's telling the story is in fact about [vulnerable Americans] - and, with the necessary adjustments, countless other underprivileged men and women caught up in a system that has little use for their kind.\" * Boston Globe *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVivid \u003c\/b\u003e. . . The portrayal of the choices one must make when living paycheck to paycheck in late capitalist America is realistic and \u003cb\u003edevastating \u003c\/b\u003e. . . The deeply moving and nuanced mother narrative is a rewarding journey in itself . . . \u003cb\u003eVeselka is a talented writer, with sensual imagery and an unflinching ability to stick with troubled and troublesome characters\u003c\/b\u003e. * Seattle Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe talented Veselka is such a crafty, confident writer\u003c\/b\u003e you don't immediately grasp the absurdity of the journeys her characters are on. This was true in 2011's bleakly satirical \u003ci\u003eZazen.\u003c\/i\u003e And it's true in Veselka's \u003cb\u003emarvelous\u003c\/b\u003e new novel, in which two sisters hit the road in search of the woman who gave birth to one of them. In other words, either Livy or Cheyenne is adopted and they don't know which. Things only get stranger with each turn of the page, but it's cool because you're in good hands. * Philadelphia Enquirer *\u003cbr\u003eI immediately fell in love with the phenomenal sisters at the heart of Vanessa Veselka's \u003cb\u003esupernova of a new novel\u003c\/b\u003e. This novel is thrilling in its content, daring in heart and makes a helix between a novel of ideas and the best damn story of women who forge their identities on their own terms that I've read in years. * Lidia Yuknavitch, author of THE BOOK OF JOAN *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVanessa Veselka writes with the power of the ocean tides\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Great Offshore Grounds\u003c\/i\u003e teems with life as beguiling and beautiful as any undersea grotto. This novel is warmhearted and coldblooded and \u003cb\u003eI'll never forget Livy and Cheyenne and their fierce bond and bottomless wonder. Neither will you\u003c\/b\u003e. * Peter Geye, author of NORTHERNMOST *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Great Offshore Grounds\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ea binge-worthy, kaleidoscopic, twenty-first century American family odyssey\u003c\/b\u003e. Vanessa Veselka spins a \u003cb\u003eradical\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003edelicious\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eepic \u003c\/b\u003etale of women blasting their way forward to free themselves of the past. Her characters play by no rules but their own and they pull you in with oceans of black humor and so much heart. * Andrea Kleine, author of EDEN *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePRAISE FOR VANESSA VESELKA'S \u003ci\u003eZAZEN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Vanessa Veselka is something like a literary comet: bright-burning, far-reaching, rarely seen and a little dangerous' \u003cb\u003eTom Bissell\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'At turns hilarious, unsettling and improbably sweet, Veselka's debut is, above all, a highly engaging, and totally unique experience, which will have you re-reading passages and dog-earing pages' \u003cb\u003eJonathan Evison, author of \u003ci\u003eAll About Lulu \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eWest of Here\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e'Taut... Veselka's prose is chiseled and laced with arsenic observations' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48739609968983,"sku":"9781474614283","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781474614283.jpg?v=1720052733","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-great-offshore-grounds-9781474614283","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}