The Company - by Arabella Edge (Paperback)

About the Book

Based on the 1629 voyage of the Batavia, the Dutch East India Company flagship bound for the colonies with a cargo of untold riches, "The Company" introduces readers to the unforgettable Jeronimus Cornelisz, a talented apothecary who shifts before readers' eyes into a murderous madman.

Book Synopsis

Based on the 1629 voyage of the Dutch East India Company flagship, Batavia -- which foundered off the coast of western Australia with its cargo of untold riches -- The Company tells the story of passenger Jeronimus Cornelisz, a heretical apothecary so twisted by lust and greed that he turns to mutiny, rape, torture, and murder.
With the ship wrecked, its passengers dying, and its treasure at the bottom of the sea, Cornelisz marshals his mesmerizing charisma to assume command of the survivors. For forty hellish days, Cornelisz incites a reign of terror, leaving his victims with just one wish -- that they had gone down with the ship.
In highly imaginative and exquisitely wrought prose, The Company "suggests that Robinson Crusoe was lucky to be marooned alone" (Publishers Weekly).

Review Quotes

Palm Beach Lord of the Flies was a walk in the park compared to this saga. The Company is so vividly and intimately acquainted with sheer evil that it lures you like the serpent's eye....Artistically excellent and deeply engaging....you practically burn through the final pages.

People Savagely imagined and lyrically told.

San Francisco Chronicle A historical thriller of the first rank.

Patrick McGrath A compelling and utterly original story of shipwreck, madness and evil, featuring a splendidly ruthless villain. The Company is a fine, dark novel.

About the Author

Arabella Edge read English literature at the University of Bristol in the UK and moved to Australia in 1992. With her husband, Nick Gaze, she now divides her time between Sydney and Bicheno, on Tasmania's east coast. Her first novel, The Company, won the Best First Book in the 2001 Commonwealth Writers' Prize in the South East Asia and South Pacific Region and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award