Astray

With the turn of each page, the characters that roam across these pages go astray. They are emigrants, runaways, drifters; gold miners and counterfeiters, attorneys and slaves. They cross borders of race, law, sex, and sanity. They travel for love or money, under duress or incognito. A sequence of fourteen fact-inspired fictions about travels to, in and from North America, Astray offers a past in scattered pieces, a surprising and moving history for restless times. 'Time and again, Emma Donoghue writes books that are unlike anything I have ever seen before, and Astray is no exception.' Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder 'Emma Donoghue is one of the great literary ventriloquists of our time. Her imagination is kaleidoscopic. She steps borders and boundaries with great ease and style. In her hands the centuries dissolve, and then they crystallize back again into powerful words on the page.' Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin 'Superb ... read this book. It is a gem.' Sunday Times 'Vivid and moving' Good Housekeeping 'A pitch-perfect collection of short stories, inspired by real-life characters whose lives have gone awry' Marie Claire 'Donoghue's affinity for yesteryear's untold tales is charming, and her talent for dialect is hard to overstate ... Each and every one of Donoghue's characters leaves an impression' TIME