Book description
A national hardback bestseller in the US - another magnificently
imagined and executed book of historical fiction with a contemporary
twist, from one of the masters of the form. 'These stories possess a
wonderful clarity and ease, the serene authority of a writer working at
the very height of her powers.' New York Times
Ranging across two centuries, and from the western Himalayas to an
Adirondack village, Servants of the Map travels the territories of
yearning and awakening, of loss and unexpected discovery.
A mapper of the highest mountain peaks, engaged on the trigonometrical
measurement of British India, realizes his true obsession while in
deflationary correspondence with his far-off wife. A young woman afire
with scientific curiosity must come to terms with a romantic fantasy.
Brothers and sisters, torn apart at an early age, are beset by dreams of
reunion. Throughout, Barrett's most characteristic theme - the
happenings in that borderland between science and desire - unfolds in
the diverse lives of unforgettable human beings. 'Servants of the Map
confirms how deserving Barrett is to be ranked with Alice Munro and the
other great North American storytellers of the moment… It is the
precision of her words, and the intelligence with which she creates
bonds between characters from an age so different from our own, that
makes reading her such a joy.' Economist
'Andrea Barrett has a talent for reaching to the essence of experience…
The passage in which Lavinia speaks of what makes her happy is as
poignant and intense as anything I can remember reading for a long time,
as radiantly illuminating, in its way, as the famous passage in
Wuthering Heights when Catherine describes her idea of perfect weather.'
Barry Unsworth
'Gorgeous, illuminating, entrancing fiction… The scientific themes that
made Barrett's novel The Voyage of the Narwhal and her NBA-winning
collection Ship Fever two of the most unusual literary successes of
their decade again predominate in this superb new gathering of four
stories and two novellas.' (Starred) Kirkus Reviews ANDREA BARRETT,
currently a Fellow at the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars
and Writers, grew up on Cape Cod and graduated from Union College in
Schenectady, New York, where she studied biology. In addition to five
novels, she has also written a previous collection of short fiction,
Ship Fever. Recently named a MacArthur Fellow, she lives with her
husband in Rochester, New York.
