Still Point: a Novel

✍ Scribed by Amy Sackville

• Publisher: Granta;Counterpoint
• Year: 2010;2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 242 KB
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

At the turn of the twentieth century, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole and vanishes into the icy landscape without a trace. He leaves behind a young wife, Emily, who awaits his return for decades, her dreams and devotion gradually freezing into rigid widowhood. A hundred years later, on a sweltering mid-summer's day, Edward's great-grand-niece Julia moves through the old family house, attempting to impose some order on the clutter of inherited belongings and memories from that ill-fated expedition, and taking care to ignore the deepening cracks within her own marriage. But as afternoon turns into evening, Julia makes a discovery that splinters her long-held image of Edward and Emily's romance, and her husband Simon faces a precipitous choice that will decide the future of their relationship. Sharply observed and deeply engaging, The Still Point is a powerful literary debut and a moving meditation on the distances - geographical and emotional - that can exist between two people.

From Publishers Weekly

Sackville drifts seamlessly between past and present in her beautifully written debut, the split story of the last days of fictional 19th-century Arctic explorer Edward Mackley, and a day in the life of his great-great-niece, Julia, and her husband, Simon, a hundred years later. Julia and Simon live in Edward's brother's house, surrounded by artifacts of Edward's life's work. Julia spends her days archiving Edward's collection, reading his diaries, and developing deep attachments to the characters involved in her ancestor's story--particularly his young wife, Emily, whom Julia fashions into a Persephone figure, brave and patient as she awaits Edward's return. While the two couples live vastly different lives, there are glimpses--often funny, sometimes painful--of Julia and Simon's strained marriage tucked into the flowery prose of Emily and Edward's romance, revealing them all to be idealists with the unfortunate luck to grind against reality, none with more force than Edward, whose ship never returns. Sackville is a canny observer and a dry wit who can tease a trace of significance out of even the most mundane corners of domesticity. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

As the twentieth century begins, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole. He is looking for the still point, the quiet center at the top of the world, where he can fulfill his dreams of glory. Edward leaves behind his bride, Emily, and a promise to return. Fast-forward 100 years to an English summer day. Julia Mackley, Edwards great-grand-niece, has inherited the family home, a rundown mansion full of decaying furniture and family artifacts. Julia tries to create some kind of order out of the collection of objects and memories that surrounds her while her wayward husband, Simon, is at work. The Still Point follows the couple over the course of one day as the narrative moves between Edward and Emilys brief marriage, Edwards doomed trip, and Julia and Simons ailing relationship. Through Sackvilles rhythmic, lyrical prose, readers discover an Arctic alive with form and color, a place of unusual beauty with the ability to destroy. This is a subtle, probing exploration of the role of faith, the meaning of failure, and historys power to move us forward. --Carol Gladstein

Library : General
Formats : EPUB
ISBN : 9781846272301