In Ascension
Martin MacInnes
(Author)
Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZEA NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEARAn astonishing novel about a young microbiologistinvestigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a
journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage
of a single human life Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an
escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the
undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, traveling the
globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic
ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's
first life forms - what she instead finds calls into question everything we
know about our own beginnings.
Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and an ambitious new space
agency. Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she learns that the Atlantic
trench is only one of several related phenomena from across the world, each
piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond human understanding. Leigh knows
that to continue working with the agency will mean leaving behind her declining
mother and her younger sister, and faces an impossible choice: to remain with
her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.
Exploring the natural world with the wonder and reverence we usually reserve
for the stars, In Ascension is a compassionate, deeply inquisitive
epic that reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence,
looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows
how - no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope - we
will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home.
Product Details
Price
$18.00
$16.74
Publisher
Grove Press, Black Cat
Publish Date
February 27, 2024
Pages
512
Dimensions
5.5 X 8.2 X 1.5 inches | 0.95 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780802163462
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About the Author
Martin MacInnes lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. His debut
novel, Infinite Ground (2016), won the Somerset Maugham Award. His second
novel, Gathering Evidence (2020), led to his inclusion in The National Centre
for Writing/British Council's list of ten writers shaping the UK's future. His
third novel, In Ascension, was published in February 2023.
novel, Infinite Ground (2016), won the Somerset Maugham Award. His second
novel, Gathering Evidence (2020), led to his inclusion in The National Centre
for Writing/British Council's list of ten writers shaping the UK's future. His
third novel, In Ascension, was published in February 2023.
Reviews
Praise for In Ascension: "Astonishing . . .
Beautifully written, richly atmospheric, full of brilliantly evoked detail,
never sacrificing the grounded verisimilitude of lived experience to its vast
mysteries, but also capturing a numinous, vatic strangeness that hints at
genuine profundities about life."--Guardian"A thought-provoking story of underwater and outer space exploration. . . . MacInnes ensures readers never lose sight of what Leigh calls 'the generosity of porous life.' This brims with humanity."--Publishers Weekly "I don't think I've ever read a book that was as profound
and moving at every scale - the cell, the family, the universe. A remarkable,
expansive, stunning achievement."--Karen Joy Fowler"A
shattering investigation of nothing less than humanity's place in the cosmos."--Daily Mail "The richness of the novel is endlessly rewarding. In
Ascension is a far-reaching epic that blends a deep scientific knowledge
with a wide-eyed wonder at our place in the universe."―Financial
Times "In
Ascension finds as much poetry in the human microbiome as it does in
the grand revolutions of the planets. It is a love letter to life... a primer to
marvel."--Times Literary Supplement "A gorgeous, sombre epic, worthy of its precursors in
Stanislaw Lem, J.G. Ballard, Olaf Stapledon and Stanley Kubrick. It will be of
commanding interest to all whose ears prick up at those names, or any reader
hungry to see the novel's cosmic and intimate dimensions reconciled
with seemingly effortless grace."―Jonathan Lethem "Martin McInnes's imagination knows no bounds: he unites the
unplumbed depths of the oceans to the infinity of interstellar space in
his bravura, breathtaking, audacious In Ascension. Like Ted
Chiang's Story of Your Life, and Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach
Trilogy, this is an instant classic. Read it and feel awe and
wonder."―Neel Mukherjee, author of A State of Freedom "Monumental . . . In Ascension rarely slips
from G-inducing pace. It's that rare thing: a big, brawny novel of ideas
that's actually readable. And for that considerable achievement, MacInnes
deserves praise. It's no small thing, after all, to reach for the stars."―Telegraph "One of the best sci-fi novels I've read for ages . . . Transcendent."--New Scientist "Its
intellectual daring is formidable. This is fiction which is both stellar and
grounded; an exemplar of what the novel alone can still do."--The Scotsman "In Ascension is strewn with
jaw-dropping ideas . . . I'm still chewing over them."―Spectator "A
wondrous, hypnotic book."--Ned Beauman, author of Venomous
Lumpsucker "Laura Jean McKay, Colson Whitehead and Emily St John Mandel are serious novelists . . . crafting extraordinary and original speculative fiction. To that
list, add Martin MacInnes."―SFX (UK) "An absorbing, serious, and wonderful novel. It will stay with you."--Daisy Hildyard, author of Emergency
"An extraordinary novel - planetary and beyond planetary. The salt and
blood, the tide and the bloom, the stuff of the world, will haunt you."--JM
Ledgard, author of Submergence "Truly incredible. Beautiful and moving. A masterpiece."--Lee
Rourke, author of Glitch
Beautifully written, richly atmospheric, full of brilliantly evoked detail,
never sacrificing the grounded verisimilitude of lived experience to its vast
mysteries, but also capturing a numinous, vatic strangeness that hints at
genuine profundities about life."--Guardian"A thought-provoking story of underwater and outer space exploration. . . . MacInnes ensures readers never lose sight of what Leigh calls 'the generosity of porous life.' This brims with humanity."--Publishers Weekly "I don't think I've ever read a book that was as profound
and moving at every scale - the cell, the family, the universe. A remarkable,
expansive, stunning achievement."--Karen Joy Fowler"A
shattering investigation of nothing less than humanity's place in the cosmos."--Daily Mail "The richness of the novel is endlessly rewarding. In
Ascension is a far-reaching epic that blends a deep scientific knowledge
with a wide-eyed wonder at our place in the universe."―Financial
Times "In
Ascension finds as much poetry in the human microbiome as it does in
the grand revolutions of the planets. It is a love letter to life... a primer to
marvel."--Times Literary Supplement "A gorgeous, sombre epic, worthy of its precursors in
Stanislaw Lem, J.G. Ballard, Olaf Stapledon and Stanley Kubrick. It will be of
commanding interest to all whose ears prick up at those names, or any reader
hungry to see the novel's cosmic and intimate dimensions reconciled
with seemingly effortless grace."―Jonathan Lethem "Martin McInnes's imagination knows no bounds: he unites the
unplumbed depths of the oceans to the infinity of interstellar space in
his bravura, breathtaking, audacious In Ascension. Like Ted
Chiang's Story of Your Life, and Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach
Trilogy, this is an instant classic. Read it and feel awe and
wonder."―Neel Mukherjee, author of A State of Freedom "Monumental . . . In Ascension rarely slips
from G-inducing pace. It's that rare thing: a big, brawny novel of ideas
that's actually readable. And for that considerable achievement, MacInnes
deserves praise. It's no small thing, after all, to reach for the stars."―Telegraph "One of the best sci-fi novels I've read for ages . . . Transcendent."--New Scientist "Its
intellectual daring is formidable. This is fiction which is both stellar and
grounded; an exemplar of what the novel alone can still do."--The Scotsman "In Ascension is strewn with
jaw-dropping ideas . . . I'm still chewing over them."―Spectator "A
wondrous, hypnotic book."--Ned Beauman, author of Venomous
Lumpsucker "Laura Jean McKay, Colson Whitehead and Emily St John Mandel are serious novelists . . . crafting extraordinary and original speculative fiction. To that
list, add Martin MacInnes."―SFX (UK) "An absorbing, serious, and wonderful novel. It will stay with you."--Daisy Hildyard, author of Emergency
"An extraordinary novel - planetary and beyond planetary. The salt and
blood, the tide and the bloom, the stuff of the world, will haunt you."--JM
Ledgard, author of Submergence "Truly incredible. Beautiful and moving. A masterpiece."--Lee
Rourke, author of Glitch
