Balloonist

By: MACDONALD HARRIS

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Paperback | 1 May 2020

At a Glance

Paperback
248 Pages

Age
18+

Dimensions(cm)
19.7 x 13.0 x 1.2

Paperback

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MacDonald Harris wrote the Balloonist in the 1970s and it was published with huge acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic in 1976. Indeed it was runner-up in the National Book Award fiction prize that year. Then, in the 1980s, it mysteriously disappeared and would have remained hidden unless Philip Pullman had not sung the praises of both the book and the work of the author in The Observer back in 2008.

The novel is set in 1897 when three people attempt, for the first time, to fly to the North Pole in a balloon, and return. The story is a deliciously entertaining mix of adventure, sexual intrigue, philosophy and science.

About the Author

MacDonald Harris was the pseudonym of Donald Heiney. He wrote 16 novels and 1 book on sailing (he was in the US Navy during WW2) and lived for most of his life in Newport, California. In 1982 he received a literature award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his entire body of work. He died in 1993 aged 71.

Industry Reviews

""The Balloonist" just took me over. I loved it... an immensely entertaining book that is, at the same time, much more, interweaving the scientific, the sensual, and the philosophic. I couldn't put it down."---Michael Malone, "Philadelphia Inquirer" "There can no longer be any question whatever that MacDonald Harris is one of our major novelists."--"Los Angeles Times Book Review" "It's leisurely, it's subtle and reflective, it's funny, it's accurate and fascinating about the technical business of flying balloons and meteorology and the mysteries of early radio; there's a love story that is tender, sexy and ridiculous all at once, there are characters who are firmly conceived and rounded and surprising, there's an immaculate and jazz-like sense of rhythm and timing; but best of all there's that sensation that comes so rarely, but is as welcome as a cool breeze on a hot day when it does - the sensation that here is a subtle, witty and intelligent mind that really knows how to tell a story. Actually, it's almost impossible to read any of Harris's first pages without helplessly turning to the next, and the next. I'm astonished that he's not far better known."----Michael Chabon, printed in"The Guardian"

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