The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan
Set against the magnificent backdrop of Alaska in the waning days of World War II, The Cloud Atlas is an enthralling debut novel, a story of adventure and awakening--and of a young soldier who came to Alaska on an extraordinary, top-secret mission...and found a world that would haunt him forever. Drifting through the night, whisper-quiet, they were the most sublime manifestations of a desperate enemy: Japanese balloon bombs. Made of rice paper, at once ingenious and deadly, they sailed thousands of miles across the Pacific...and once they started landing, the U.S. scrambled teams to find and defuse them, and then keep them secret from an already anxious public. Eighteen-year-old Louis Belk was one of those men. Dispatched to the Alaskan frontier, young Sergeant Belk was better trained in bomb disposal than in keeping secrets. And the mysteries surrounding his mission only increased when he met his superior officer--a brutal veteran OSS spy hunter who knew all too well what the balloons could do--and Lily, a Yup'ik Eskimo woman who claimed she could see the future. Louis's superior ushers him into a world of dark secrets; Lily introduces Louis to an equally disorienting world of spirits--and desire. But the world that finally tests them all is Alaska, whose vastness cloaks mysteries that only become more frightening as they unravel. Chasing after the ghostly floating weapons, Louis embarks upon an adventure that will lead him deep into the tundra. There, on the edge of the endless wilderness, he will make a discovery and a choice that will change the course of his life. At once a heart-quickening mystery and a unique love story, The Cloud Atlas is also a haunting, lyrical rendering of a little-known chapter in history. Brilliantly imagined, beautifully told, this is storytelling at its very best. From the Hardcover edition.
Liam Callanan is a novelist, teacher, and journalist, whose first novel, The Cloud Atlas, was a finalist for an Edgar Award. Winner of the George W. Hunt, S.J., Prize for Excellence in Journalism, Arts and Letters, Liam has published in the Wall Street Journal, Slate, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and has recorded numerous essays for public radio. He's taught for the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and he lives in Wisconsin with his wife and daughters.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780385336949 |
| ISBN 10 | 0385336942 |
| Title | The Cloud Atlas |
| Author | Liam Callanan |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers |
| Year published | 2004-02-03 |
| Number of pages | 360 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Edgar Allan Poe Awards (First Novel) 2005 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |