The Light of Other Worlds
Robyn Mundy
A luminous, exquisitely wrought novel of freedom, desire and the terrible cost of following one’s own path.
July 1810. Beneath a press of cloud on a bleak winter’s day, the sealing brig Perseverance sails along the edge of the Antarctic pack ice bound for Campbell Island, far south of New Zealand, where a sealing gang waits to be collected. A break in the sky changes everything.
Above the cloud line, Captain Frederick Hasselborough spies a silhouette of mountain and a slender spine of land he will name Macquarie Island. Its black shores teem with wildlife, a treasure trove of fur seals and sea elephants prized for their skin and oil. Alongside Hasselborough stands his female prize, Elizabeth Farr, a young woman whose presence aboard their ship, superstition has it, will bring misfortune.
For Elizabeth, fifteen years old, orphaned and alone, comes the realisation that her yearning for a life of wild freedom rests on an untenable toll imposed by a capricious captain with brutal predilections. All the while, Elizabeth is shunned by ship’s carpenter James Bloodworth, a man she is drawn to deeply and dangerously with devastating consequence.
The Light of Other Worlds is an emotionally charged story of wilderness, adventure and forbidden love.
- Release
- Jun-2027
- ISBN
- 9781761474972
- RRP (AUD)
- $34.99
- Format
- Paperback
- Category
- Historical/Literary
Robyn Mundy
Robyn Mundy has wintered and summered in Antarctica, the setting for her first novel The Nature of Ice. Her second novel, Wildlight, is set on remote Maatsuyker Island, home to Australia’s loneliest lighthouse, where she spent ten months. For over 20 years Robyn has worked seasonally as a ship-based tour guide in Svalbard, Greenland, Antarctica, the Norwegian coast and wild Scotland. Her numerous visits to Svalbard led to her 2021 novel Cold Coast. Robyn lives in Tasmania with a penguin biologist and a Blue Heeler.
Allen & Unwin
Allen & Unwin is Australia’s leading independent publisher and is the 2023 Publisher of the Year, a title we’ve now held fifteen times. Our lists are unrivalled in scope and quality, our focus on original ideas and voices, and our acclaimed authors and titles amongst Australia’s best.
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