The North Water: Now a major BBC TV series starring Colin Farrell, Jack O'Connell and Stephen Graham

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LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN NOTABLE BOOK 2016

A ship sets sail with a killer on board . . .
1859. A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters, Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship's surgeon on this ill-fated voyage. But when, deep into the journey, a cabin boy is discovered brutally killed, Sumner finds himself forced to act. Soon he will face an evil even greater than he had encountered at the siege of Delhi, in the shape of Henry Drax: harpooner, murderer, monster . . .

Behold: one of the finest books of the year' Independent

'McGuire delivers one bravura set-piece after another . . . The North Water has, in places, a ConradMelville undercurrent, but for the most part it is Dickenss influence that is most keenly felt . . . This is a stunning novel, one that snares the reader from the outset and keeps the tightest grip until its bitter end'
Financial Times on The North Water

'Horrifically gripping. Such fine writing might have been lifted from the pages of Herman Melvilles Moby-Dick
Independent on Sunday on The North Water

'Terrific, seamed with pitch black humour and possessed of a momentum that's kept up to the final, unexpected but resoundingly satisfying scene ... Inspired'
Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail on The North Water

'As a storyteller, McGuire has a sure and unwavering touch, and he has engineered a superbly compelling suspense narrative . . . As a stylist, too, McGuire is never less than assured . . . a writer of exceptional craft and confidence'
Paraic O'Connell, Irish times on The North Water

Reviews

'A stunning novel that snares the reader from the outset and keeps the tightest grip until its bitter end' -- Financial Times
'A novel that takes us to the limits of flesh and blood. Utterly convincing and compelling, remorselessly vivid and insidiously witty.' -- Martin Amis
'Horrifically gripping' -- Independent on Sunday
'Full of twists, turns, period detail and strong characters' -- The Times
'The North Water has exceptional power and energy' -- Sunday Times
'Terrific seamed with pitch-black humour and possessed of a momentum that's kept up to the final scene' -- Daily Mail
'A superbly compelling suspense narrative' -- Irish Times

Author Bio

Ian McGuire grew up near Hull and studied at the University of Manchester and the University of Virginia, USA. In 2007 he co-founded the University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing. He is the author of Incredible Bodies and the 2016 Man Booker-longlisted novel, The North Water, for which he won the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award. The Abstainer is his third novel.