
The Collector of Lost Things
Jeremy Page(Author)
Abacus (Publisher)
Published on 3. April 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-349-13878-7 (ISBN)
Description
I felt the worlds of ocean and ice were meeting in a frontier of rage, as if the Earth had torn in two along this line.This was a place if there ever was a place, where you could disappear.
The year is 1845 and young researcher Eliot Saxby is paid to go on an expedition to the Arctic in the hope of finding remains of the by now extinct Great Auk. He joins a regular hunting ship, but the crew and the passengers are not what they seem. Caught in the web of relationships on board, Eliot struggles to understand the motivations of the sociopathic, embroidery-loving Captain Sykes, the silent First Mate French, the flamboyant laudanum-addicted Bletchley and, most importantly of all, Bletchley's beautiful but strange 'cousin' Clara. As the ship moves further and further into the wilds of the Arctic sea, Eliot clings to what he believes in, desperate to save Clara but drawn irrevocably back into the past that haunts him.
The first historical novel from an author who has been critically acclaimed for his two contemporary novels (Salt and The Wake), The Collector of Lost Things is a compulsive, beautifully writtten read.
The year is 1845 and young researcher Eliot Saxby is paid to go on an expedition to the Arctic in the hope of finding remains of the by now extinct Great Auk. He joins a regular hunting ship, but the crew and the passengers are not what they seem. Caught in the web of relationships on board, Eliot struggles to understand the motivations of the sociopathic, embroidery-loving Captain Sykes, the silent First Mate French, the flamboyant laudanum-addicted Bletchley and, most importantly of all, Bletchley's beautiful but strange 'cousin' Clara. As the ship moves further and further into the wilds of the Arctic sea, Eliot clings to what he believes in, desperate to save Clara but drawn irrevocably back into the past that haunts him.
The first historical novel from an author who has been critically acclaimed for his two contemporary novels (Salt and The Wake), The Collector of Lost Things is a compulsive, beautifully writtten read.
Reviews / Votes
With his beautiful historical novel The Collector of Lost Things Page earns his place on the stage next to compatriots and contemporaries like Lawrence Norfolk and Hilary Mantel * Knack Focus * An enormous beauty is hidden behind all the horrors: the power of the ocean, the life on board of the ship, the immense views. Author Jeremy Page knows how to describe these things with such a feeling for detail that you feel the water spurt out and hear the creaking of the mast while you read * De Zondag *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 125 mm
Width: 196 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
314 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-349-13878-7 (9780349138787)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Jeremy Page
The Collector of Lost Things
E-Book
04/2013
Little, Brown Book Group
€2.99
Available for download
Person
Jeremy grew up in North Norfolk and has worked as a script editor and writer for FilmFour and the BBC, in addition to teaching on the Creative Writing MA at UEA. He lives in London with his wife and three children. He has published two previous novels with Viking UK and Viking US: Salt and The Wake.