TransAtlantic

Colum McCann, originally from Dublin, Ireland, is the author of six novels and two collections of stories. His most recent novel, the New York Times bestseller Let the Great World Spin, won the National Book Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and several other major international awards. His fiction has been published in thirty-five languages. He lives in New York. www.colummccann.com

This novel is beautifully hypnotic in its movements, from the grand (between two continents, across three centuries) to the most subtle. Silkily threading together public events and private feelings, TransAtlantic says no to death with every line. Those who can't see the point of historical novels will find their answer here: in all intelligent fiction, the past has not passed Emma Donoghue Expertly constructed ... At its best, as in the superbly rendered early scene of Alcock and Brown's flight, the prose is poetically vivid -- Mark O'Connell Observer Few contemporary writers are better at subtracting the sublime from the base ... A kind of cat's cradle of transatlantic journeys, all connected, all built on another thing -- Hermione Hoby Guardian A challenging, beautifully woven novel about the real and imagined. Fans of Ian McEwan will love it -- Viv Groskop Red McCann is no stranger to literary prizes - but if I were him, I'd start clearing my mantelpiece for a few more -- James Walton Daily Mail McCann makes us wonder at how his characters get from A to B; he encourages us to see how journeys elicit distinctions and closeness between people ... He is especially striking when he describes the weather: the wind muscles through the grass; clouds perform a curtsy. He has a telegraphic style of transmitting historical content -- Freya Johnston Daily Telegraph Colum McCann is a very gifted, charming writer; in full, rhapsodic-onrush mode, he is hard to resist. He coins a good phrase...TransAtlantic is deft, well crafted, and broad in its imaginative range. The many people who loved his last novel will certainly enjoy this one Guardian A marvellously engrossing journey, studded with ideas and lyrical treats The Times It is a record not of great men and great moments but of small, elegant details and personal loss New Statesman McCann's prose aspires towards the atmospheric and descriptive...Stylistically, McCann shares a great deal with Michael Ondaatje, while the