Description

‘Exceptionally vivid and intense’ Sunday Times

‘A marvellously dark yarn’ The Spectator

‘A swaggering debut’ Daily Mail

Everyone expects at least a little bit of deception…

Alex is a motherless stockboy in 1830s Montreal, waiting desperately for his father to return from France. Serge, a drunken fur trader, promises food and safety in return for friendship, but an expedition into the forest quickly goes awry…

The Voyageur is a brilliantly realised novel set on the margins of British North America, where kindness is costly and the real wilderness may not be in the landscape but in the desperate hearts of men.

Publisher Review

‘An exceptionally vivid and intense tale of a young man struggling to find freedom amid people eager only to exploit him’ – Nick Rennison, Sunday Times ‘Spins a marvellously dark yarn … Written with the scope of Annie Proulx and the verve of Peter Carey, The Voyageur is a most diverting read’ – Rachel Seiffert, The Spectator ‘Rum-soaked, laudanum-addled and at the mercy of amoral ne’er-do-wells, a “skinny and feeble and fragile” anti-hero heads into the wilds of 1830s British North America in Carlucci’s swaggering debut’ – Eithne Farry, Daily Mail ‘The Voyageur is a marvellous work of art, brutal, tender and deeply moving. It has many of the qualities of Cormac McCarthy at his ferocious best, without the excesses of the late American master. The narrative is set in history, but the novel triumphantly surpasses the constrictions of a genre label’ – John Banville ‘A fascinating read … the characters are pithily described and were fully alive, the places likewise. I was in the virgin forests and the plunging rivers; I was on the filthy beach of Mackinac; in the gross tavern and muddied, choleric streets of York’ – Tim Pears ‘The Voyageur is an intimate adventure across a vast canvas. Based on a fascinating historical starting point, Carlucci’s empathetic novel has much to say about the delight and the shame that spring from something we all have in common: the human body’ – Aliya Whiteley ‘An absorbing frontier tale; unique and affecting’ – Paul Howarth, author of Only Killers and Thieves ‘Marvellously atmospheric, rich in vivid detail, everywhere crackling with violence, tenderness and surprise, The Voyageur by Paul Carlucci is a splendid novel. I turned its pages with anticipation and delight’ – Laird Hunt, author of Zorrie ‘Vivid and earthy, horrifying and yet poignant and heartrending; the landscape has a cinematic quality’ – Crime Time FM ‘An astonishing tale of the wild frontier, sometimes shocking, sometimes deeply emotional’ – Historical Novel Society ‘Less morality tale than tale of a moral void, The Voyageur is compelling, heart-rending and sparing in comfort’ – Suzi Feay, The Tablet ‘A beautifully paced, moving and thought provokingly deep read’ – Estelle Birdy, Irish Independent ‘The novel recalls Hilary Mantel’s The Giant, O’Brien (1998) in its robust prose and unflinching presentation of the costs of being a strange human in different times’ – Randy Boyagoda, TLS