The Raven by Peter Landesman

On 29 June, 1941, thirty-six members of a small community near Boston go out on a picnic off Bailey Island on the pleasure craft, the Raven. Mysteriously, only the women and one man, the captain, naked and tied to a keg, come back - dead, found by a lone lobsterman and his nine-year-old son. The nothing - no other bodies and no trace of the vessel are ever discovered. Conflicting details about the disappearance of the Raven abound. Was there fog, or was the weather clear? Was it sunk by the Germans, or scuttled for insurance money? Was a bad sea at fault, or a bad captain?

This eloquent novel spans decades, exploring the tragedy that echoes through the voices of those left behind. From the bank manager who okayed the trip, to the boy who should have gone but didn't, to the woman who will always believe that her husband and child will return home safe one day, to the lobsterman and his growing son who hauled the drowned ashore.  Beautifully wrought, densely evocative, gritty and shocking, this outstanding story of the sea, reminiscent of Poe, Hoeg, Melville and Proulx, heralds the arrival of a significant new literary voice.

Condition: Good
Published: First published 1995. This edition published in 1997 by Flamingo
Pages: 356
ISBN: 0002255510
Weight: 495g