White River Crossing - by Ian McGuire (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A ragged fur peddler arrives at a remote outpost of the Hudson Bay Company in the winter of 1766 with a lump of gold, claiming that there is plenty more like it further north at a place called Ox Lake. The outpost's chief factor, Magnus Norton, dreams of instant riches and launches a secret and perilous expedition to find the treasure and bring it back.

Led by a family of native guides, the party of prospectors includes Norton's brutish deputy, John Shaw, and Thomas Hearn, the insular and intellectual first mate from the factory's whaling sloop. During their long journey north, Shaw's callousness and arrogance lead him to commit an act of sexual violence whose disastrous consequences will only fully emerge once they reach their final destination. There, amidst the bleak beauty of the Barren Grounds, as Norton's carefully crafted plans begin to fall apart and the brutal arctic winter starts to descend, Hearn is forced to make a choice that will define his character and determine his future forever.

Utterly captivating, White River Crossing transports us back to the furthest edges of the eighteenth-century British empire where two radically different worlds--indigenous and European--collide with calamitous and deadly results.

Review Quotes

"An expertly told thriller that's also a classic colonial adventure story."--The Telegraph

"White River Crossing moves at a propulsive lick . . ."--The Guardian

"Briskly paced [and] immersive . . . McGuire's novel depicts the destructive and corrupting effects of the colonists' gold lust on themselves and the Native people in their path."--The New Yorker

"McGuire achieves a cinematic intimacy by writing the past in the present tense."--The Spectator

"White River Crossing is an exhilarating thrill ride of a novel. . . . The tough, forbidding backdrops of frozen woods and wastes are expertly rendered, the period detail finely observed."--The Washington Post

"Ian McGuire chronicles unvarnished avarice and evil intent like few others writing today. . . . [White River Crossing is] spring-loaded, evocative, alive."--The New York Times Book Review

"Hard to turn away . . . The momentum in this all-consuming thriller barely takes a breath."--Historical Novel Society

"A brutally rendered work of historical lyricism . . . another epic journey into the Canadian colonial past."--CrimeReads

"[McGuire] has a rare gift for evoking all five senses. . . . You get the sense that McGuire could churn out bestsellers by the dozen if he weren't so attuned to his well-earned status as a writer of literature rather than pulp fiction."--California Review of Books

"A staggering portrait . . . brought to vivid life by the author's keen talent for storytelling and willingness to depict the depths of human cruelty . . . The story's ending is a shock, as McGuire explores in the final twist how hope and honor can be liabilities in a world of temptation, treachery, and retribution. It's a stunner."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A fast-paced, elegantly written adventure novel about the moral and physical perils of gold lust . . . McGuire inhabits a wide variety of characters here, moving impressively among points of view, between historical sources and his own imaginings, between the literary-psychological mode and old-fashioned adventure yarn. [He] nimbly combines historical narrative and high suspense."--Kirkus Reviews

"McGuire brilliantly portrays the vicissitudes of human nature as pride and greed lead to treachery, jealousy, and deceit, weaving a trenchant tale of man's inhumanity to man. The prose is both poetic and visceral, while the descriptions of the land and traditions are rich in period detail. A resplendent and masterful tale."--Booklist, starred review

About the Author