English Passengers: A Novel

Authors: Kneale, Matthew
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
BISAC/Subject: FIC014000, FIC019000, FIC047000
ISBN: 9780307484314, Related ISBNs: 0307484319, 0385259492, 0385259743, 0385497431, 038549744X
Classification: Fiction
Number of pages: 464,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis: In 1857 when Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley and his band of rum smugglers from the Isle of Man have most of their contraband confiscated by British Customs, they are forced to put their ship up for charter. The only takers are two eccentric Englishmen who want to embark for the other side of the globe. The Reverend Geoffrey Wilson believes the Garden of Eden was on the island of Tasmania. His traveling partner, Dr. Thomas Potter, unbeknownst to Wilson, is developing a sinister thesis about the races of men.

Meanwhile, an aboriginal in Tasmania named Peevay recounts his people’s struggles against the invading British, a story that begins in 1824, moves into the present with approach of the English passengers in 1857, and extends into the future in 1870. These characters and many others come together in a storm of voices that vividly bring a past age to life.
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