The Underground Railroad: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017 - Softcover
Synopsis
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017
WINNER OF THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 2017
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2017
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER 2016
AMAZON.COM #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Whitehead is on a roll: the reviews have been sublime' Guardian
'Luminous, furious, wildly inventive' Observer
'Hands down one of the best, if not the best, book I've read this year' Stylist
'Dazzling' New York Review of Books
Praised by Barack Obama and an Oprah Book Club Pick, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead won the National Book Award 2016 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017.
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. All the slaves lead a hellish existence, but Cora has it worse than most; she is an outcast even among her fellow Africans and she is approaching womanhood, where it is clear even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a slave recently arrived from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they take the perilous decision to escape to the North.
In Whitehead's razor-sharp imagining of the antebellum South, the Underground Railroad has assumed a physical form: a dilapidated box car pulled along subterranean tracks by a steam locomotive, picking up fugitives wherever it can. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But its placid surface masks an infernal scheme designed for its unknowing black inhabitants. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher sent to find Cora, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.
At each stop on her journey, Cora encounters a different world. As Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America, from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once the story of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shatteringly powerful meditation on history.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
It has invaded both my sleeping and waking thoughts . . . Each character feels alive with a singular humanity . . . Whitehead is on a roll, the reviews have been sublime (Bim Adewunmi Guardian)
An engrossing and harrowing novel (Sunday Times)
[A] brutal, vital, devastating novel...This is a luminous, furious, wildly inventive tale that not only shines a bright light on one of the darkest periods of history, but also opens up thrilling new vistas for the form of the novel itself (Alex Preston Observer)
This thrilling tale of escape from a deep south plantation takes in terror, beauty and the history of human tragedy..This uncanny novel never attempts to deliver a message - instead it tells one of the most compelling stories I have ever read. Cora's strong, graceful hands touch on the greatest tragedies of our history (Cynthia Bond, Guardian)
It's so good it's hard to praise it without whipping out the cliches: it's an elegant, devastating powerhouse of a book, following a young black woman all over America as she tries to escape the horrors of slavery. When it was published with Oprah's imprimatur, in August, it was universally acclaimed. It deserved it (Michelle Dean Guardian)
One of the best, if not the best, book I've read this year . . . Whitehead never exploits his subject matter, and in fact it's the sparseness of the novel that makes it such a punch in the gut (Sarah Shaffi Stylist)
My book of the year by some distance...It's a profound and important novel, but more than anything it's an absurdly good read, gripping you in its tightly wound plot, astonishing you with its leaps of imagination. If Whitehead doesn't win every prize going next year, I'll appear on Saturday Review in my underpants (Alex Preston Observer, Best Fiction of 2016)
Whitehead is a superb storyteller . . . [he] brilliantly intertwines his allegory with history . . . writing at the peak of his game . . . Whitehead's achievement is truly remarkable: by giving the Underground Railroad a new mythology, he has found a way of confronting other myths, older and persistent, about the United States. His book cannot have enough readers (Telegraph)
It is an extraordinary novel, a rich, confident work that will deservedly win - on the basis of literary merit as well as moral purpose . . . History and human experience as well as an artist's obligation to tell the truth have shaped a virtuoso novel that should be read by every American as well as readers across the world. And it will be, it should be (Eileen Battersby Irish Times)
An utterly transporting piece of storytelling (Alex Heminsley The Pool)
Book Description
From prize-winning, bestselling author Colson Whitehead, a magnificent, wrenching, thrilling tour de force chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherFleet
- Publication date2017
- ISBN 10 0708898408
- ISBN 13 9780708898406
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages400
- Rating
Buy New
Learn more about this copy
£ 9.39
Shipping:
FREE
Within United Kingdom
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Seller: Speedyhen, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: NEW. Seller Inventory # NW9780708898406
Quantity: Over 20 available
Stock Image
The Underground Railroad: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017
Published by
Little, Brown Book Group, 2014
ISBN 10: 0708898408
ISBN 13: 9780708898406
New
Paperback / softback
Seller: THE SAINT BOOKSTORE, Southport, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. From prize-winning, bestselling author Colson Whitehead, a magnificent, wrenching, thrilling tour de force chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. Seller Inventory # B9780708898406
Quantity: 5 available
Stock Image
The Underground Railroad: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017
Seller: Monster Bookshop, Fleckney, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9780708898406-GDR
Quantity: Over 20 available
Stock Image
Underground Railroad
Seller: Ria Christie Collections, Uxbridge, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: New. In. Seller Inventory # ria9780708898406_new
Quantity: Over 20 available
Seller Image
The Underground Railroad: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017
Published by
Fleet Publication (2017), 2014
ISBN 10: 0708898408
ISBN 13: 9780708898406
New
Softcover
Seller: Pieuler Store, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: new. NULL. Book is in NEW condition. Satisfaction Guaranteed! Fast Customer Service!!. Seller Inventory # PSN0708898408
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
The Underground Railroad: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017
Seller: Chiron Media, Wallingford, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 6666-HCE-9780708898406
Quantity: Over 20 available
Seller Image
Underground Railroad
Seller: GreatBookPricesUK, Castle Donington, DERBY, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 28882539-n
Quantity: 5 available
Stock Image
The Underground Railroad
Published by
Little, Brown and Company, 2014
ISBN 10: 0708898408
ISBN 13: 9780708898406
New
Softcover
Seller: Majestic Books, Hounslow, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: New. pp. 398. Seller Inventory # 371766755
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Underground Railroad
Seller: Brook Bookstore, Milano, MI, Italy
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 1fc49587c11692d34993de0f78f7a804
Quantity: Over 20 available
Stock Image
The Underground Railroad
Seller: Kennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd., Galway, GY, Ireland
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: New. . 2017. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780708898406
Quantity: Over 20 available