This novel was recommended to me by a friend, and I’m glad I listened; at first glance it appears to be a book of short stories, but they’re all interlinked, and run all the way from a historic seafaring journal to a tale of life in a post-apocalyptic future – and then back again.

There are running themes and images in the stories, and they’re all written in different voices, and Mitchell does well to make them not only distinct, but also sufficiently interesting and involving that there’s a sense of ‘aw, I was just getting into that’ when one story ends, though the interest is soon diverted to the new tale. The one I found least interesting was what might be seen as the ‘central’ chapter, but this proved worth persevering with as it paid off later.

Very well written indeed, and I gather Mitchell’s written a couple of other novels, which I’ll have to look out for. Recommended.