Rush Oh! - Hardcover

Barrett, Shirley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316261548 ISBN 13: 9780316261548

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2016

Synopsis

"[An] epic tale."--O: The Oprah Magazine

"Irresistible."--Wall Street Journal

"A fresh and subversive take on a genre traditionally owned by male leviathans."--New York Times Book Review, *Editors' Choice*

"Heart-warming and hilarious."--Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places

"A book to never forget."--Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief

An impassioned, charming, and hilarious debut novel about a young woman's coming-of-age, during one of the harshest whaling seasons in the history of New South Wales. 1908: It's the year that proves to be life-changing for our teenage narrator, Mary Davidson, tasked with providing support to her father's boisterous whaling crews while caring for five brothers and sisters in the wake of their mother's death. But when the handsome John Beck-a former Methodist preacher turned novice whaler with a mysterious past-arrives at the Davidson's door pleading to join her father's crews, suddenly Mary's world is upended.

As her family struggles to survive the scarcity of whales and the vagaries of weather, and as she navigates sibling rivalries and an all-consuming first love for the newcomer John, nineteen-year-old Mary will soon discover a darker side to these men who hunt the seas, and the truth of her place among them.

Swinging from Mary's own hopes and disappointments to the challenges that have beset her family's whaling operation, RUSH OH! is an enchanting blend of fact and fiction that's as much the story of its gutsy narrator's coming-of-age as it is the celebration of an extraordinary episode in history.

About this title

About the Author

Shirley Barrett is best known for her work as a screenwriter and director. Her film Love Serenade won the Caméra d'Or for best first feature at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996. In 2010, the script for her film South Solitary won the Queensland Premier's Prize and the West Australian Premier's Prize. Rush Oh! is her first novel. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

Review

"Barrett writes with a warmth and humor that lift the story free of its historical sources.... A fresh and subversive take on a genre traditionally owned by male leviathans like Melville and Hemingway."―Tom Gilling, New York Times Book Review

"Irresistible.... RUSH OH! is an elegiac tale...but Mary's voice is so fresh and Ms. Barrett's sidewinding story so spry and amusing that readers will think less of endings than of the auspicious start to a novelist's career."―Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

"One of the genuinely addictive books of the season."―Meredith Turits, ELLE

"Wonderfully crisp.... [An] epic tale."―Karen Bender, O: The Oprah Magazine


"Beautiful and brutal, witty and kind, RUSH OH! is a story of great surprises and a beating heart--a book to never forget."―Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief

"Vividly portrays the hunt as well as its moral ambiguities."―Editors' Choice, New York Times Book Review

"A charming coming-of-age tale."―Tom Beer, Newsday

"RUSH OH! is a masterpiece. It's human, heart-stopping, heart-warming, and hilarious, and I fell instantly, lastingly in love."―Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places and The Ice Master

"[Barrett's] vivid and visual storytelling transfers perfectly to the page."―Peter Meinertzhagen, Electric Literature

"Funny and sweet and wonderful."―Book Riot

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0316261548
• ISBN 13: 9780316261548
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368