Waiting for Columbus |
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Author:
| Trofimuk, Thomas |
ISBN: | 978-0-330-47979-0 |
Publication Date: | Aug 2009 |
Publisher: | Pan Macmillan Australia Pty, Limited
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Imprint: | Picador |
Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | Contact Supplier contact
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Book Description:
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In contemporary Spain, a man arrives at an insane asylum in Seville claiming to be the legendary navigator Christopher Columbus. Who he really is, and the events that lead him to break with reality, lie at the centre of this page-turning novel. Found semi-naked in the treacherous Strait of Gibraltar, the mysterious man called Columbus appears to be just another delirious patient, until he begins to tell the "true" story of how he famously obtained three ships from Spanish royalty. It's...
More DescriptionIn contemporary Spain, a man arrives at an insane asylum in Seville claiming to be the legendary navigator Christopher Columbus. Who he really is, and the events that lead him to break with reality, lie at the centre of this page-turning novel. Found semi-naked in the treacherous Strait of Gibraltar, the mysterious man called Columbus appears to be just another delirious patient, until he begins to tell the "true" story of how he famously obtained three ships from Spanish royalty. It's Nurse Consuela who listens to these fantastical tales of adventure and romance, and tries to make sense of why this seemingly intelligent man has been locked up, and why no one has come to visit him. As fragments of the man beneath the façade reveal a complex and charming person, Nurse Consuela can't avoid the inappropriate feelings she begins to experience. Something terrible caused his break with reality and she can only listen and wait as Columbus spins his tale to its dramatic end. Simultaneously, Emile Germain, an Interpol officer based in France, receives a memo about a mysterious man -possibly a dangerous assailant -missing from the scene of a crime. All paths lead to Spain, where Emile, unbeknownst to the doctors at the Sevilla Institute, is unravelling more than just one mystery. Ultimately a story about the way we find solace in worlds outside our own, Waiting for Columbus vividly and tenderly explores the fragility of the mind when faced with incomprehensible pain. In the tradition of The Lovely Bones and The Dogs of Babel, this novel mines the darkest recesses of loss and the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit.