Title : The English Passengers - Matthew Kneale - book

Summary :

In London, in 1857, one of the greatest adventures of the century is being prepared: Reverend Wilson intends to prove to the world that the Garden of Eden exists and is located in Tasmania.

Faithful to the great tradition of 19th-century adventure stories, but also resolutely modern in its questioning of racism, religions and colonization, this is a formidable novel with a philosophical dimension, exceptional humor, erudition and quality of writing.

In London in 1857, one of the greatest adventures of the century is brewing: driven as much by a divine revelation as by his dreams of glory, Reverend Wilson intends to prove to the world that the Garden of Eden is in Tasmania. Accompanied by a disillusioned young botanist and a doctor who has secretly written sinister treatises on the superiority of the white race, the reverend embarks aboard the ship of Captain Kewley, who is more interested in selling his contraband cargo than in the mystical quest of his passengers.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, Peevay the Aboriginal recounts his people's struggles against the settlers, those "ghosts with dead skin and toeless feet."

At the end of a perilous journey, as the English passengers approach the island of Peevay, the clash between two civilizations that are complete opposites seems inevitable...

Whitbread Prize for Best Novel and Best Book of the Year 2000

Relay Prize for Escape Novel 2002.

• EAN : 9782714438683
  
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