The Charles Beauchamp is not a whaling ship; she is a slaver. Fourteen-year-old Tom, who has been signed on as captain's apprentice, learns this only after the ship has put to sea for Africa. With several bizarre crewmen on board, Tom has more than just his duties to attend to during the ship's fateful journey.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Joanna Scott is the author of seven books of fiction, including the novels Tourmaline and Arrogance, and the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning story collection Various Antidotes. She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Lannan Award, and lives with her family in Rochester, New York.
The promise of Scott's brilliant first novel Fading, My Parmacheene Belle has been realized with this extraordinary tale of a doomed slave ship, narrated by its 14-year-old captain's apprentice. As the Charles Beauchamp crosses the Atlantic and discards its guise as a whaling vessel, Tom, whose account of the journey is rendered with Scott's flawless ear for the voices of other times and places, must contend with a growing confusion. Jack Carvee, the ship's cook, soon comes to a cruel and hideous end. The watchman, Peter Gray, is force-fed a "communion" of live cockroaches by some of the crew, led by the vicious Pharaoh and the bandy-legged Yellow Will. Tom, dubbed the Blue Monkey, is mesmerized by the wild tales about the enigmatic captain that the messboy, Brian Piper, dishes up along with the ship's grub. But nothing is as it seems. Tom, himself the privileged son of the ship's sponsor, is passing as a mere ship's lad. Peter Gray is revealed to be a woman. Her purpose in making the journey, she confides to Tom, is the quest for a mulatto African leader named Quince. Terrified both by Piper's fantastic stories about the captain and the captain's lurid descriptions of the barbaric Quince, Tom is wracked by fears at every turn. But Quince may not exist. The captain's eight dead wives may be fantasy. In this Kafka-esque narrative, only fear is real for Tom. Reality recedes as the ship takes on its dreadful human cargo, taking on a raving missionary preacher in the bargain. At the end, Tom is left wandering the ship, with Peter Gray at the helm. Scott is a writer with an exceptional narrative talent that belies her youth. This second novel demonstrates conclusively that modern literature has a major new voice.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 7.50
Within U.S.A.
Seller: Gene The Book Peddler, Winchester, NH, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. first edition book is like new tightness with no markings, very minor rubbing to dj, great book. Seller Inventory # 011530
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Abacus Bookshop, Pittsford, NY, U.S.A.
hardcover. 1st edition. 8vo, 290 pp. Nearly fine copy in nearly fine dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 005546
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Books that Benefit, Fawley, United Kingdom
Hardcover. Condition: Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Good+. Black cloth hard cover - Good+. In DJ - very slight signs of age/Good+. 290 pages. Content Good+. (542g) Photo on request. As Books that Benefit gives the proceeds from the sale of this book to charity correct postage will be asked for when more than default price quoted. Seller Inventory # 005574
Quantity: 1 available