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An immensely powerful epic of colonialism, set in 18th-century
Greenland, about the great forces of nature, the meeting of
cultures and fathers and sons. 1728: The doomed Danish King Fredrik
IV sends a governor to Greenland to establish a colony, in the
hopes of exploiting the country's allegedly vast natural resources.
A few merchants, a barber-surgeon, two trainee priests, a
blacksmith, some carpenters and soldiers and a dozen hastily
married couples go with him. The missionary priest Hans Egede has
already been in Greenland for several years when the new colonists
arrive. He has established a mission there, but the converts are
few. Among those most hostile Egede is the shaman Aappaluttoq,
whose own son was taken by the priest and raised in the Christian
faith as his own. Thus the great rift between two men, and two ways
of life, is born. The newly arrived couples - composed of men and
women plucked from prison - quickly sink into a life of almost
complete dissolution, and soon unsanitary conditions, illness and
death bring the colony to its knees. Through the starvation and the
epidemics that beset the colony, Egede remains steadfast in his
determination - willing to sacrifice even those he loves for the
sake of his mission. Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken, Kim
Leine's The Colony of Good Hope explores what happens when two
cultures confront one another. In a distant colony, under the
harshest conditions, the overwhelming forces of nature meet the
vices of man.
'A superb novel . . . A hugely powerful chronicle of lives lived on
the edge' - Sunday Times, Books of the Year In the tradition of
Conrad's Heart of Darkness, an immensely powerful historical novel
about the first encounters between Danish colonists and
Greenlanders in the early eighteenth century, of brutal clashes
between priests and pagans and the forces that drive each
individual towards darkness or light. 1728: The Danish King Fredrik
IV sends a governor to Greenland to establish a colony, in the
hopes of exploiting the country's allegedly vast natural resources.
A few merchants, a barber-surgeon, two trainee priests, a
blacksmith, some carpenters and soldiers and a dozen hastily
married couples go with him. The missionary priest Hans Egede has
already been in Greenland for several years when the new colonists
arrive. He has established a mission there, but the converts are
few. Among those most hostile to Egede is the shaman Aappaluttoq,
whose own son was taken by the priest and raised in the Christian
faith as his own. Thus the great rift between two men, and two ways
of life, is born. The newly arrived couples - men and women plucked
from prison - quickly sink into a life of almost complete
dissolution, and soon unsanitary conditions, illness and death
bring the colony to its knees. Through the starvation and the
epidemics that beset the colony, Egede remains steadfast in his
determination - willing to sacrifice even those he loves for the
sake of his mission. Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken, Kim
Leine's The Colony of Good Hope explores what happens when two
cultures confront one another. In a distant colony, under the
harshest conditions, the overwhelming forces of nature meet the
vices of man.
In the tradition of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, an immensely
powerful historical novel about the first encounters between Danish
colonists and Greenlanders in the early eighteenth century, of
brutal clashes between priests and pagans and the forces that drive
each individual towards darkness or light. 1728: The Danish King
Fredrik IV sends a governor to Greenland to establish a colony, in
the hopes of exploiting the country's allegedly vast natural
resources. A few merchants, a barber-surgeon, two trainee priests,
a blacksmith, some carpenters and soldiers and a dozen hastily
married couples go with him. The missionary priest Hans Egede has
already been in Greenland for several years when the new colonists
arrive. He has established a mission there, but the converts are
few. Among those most hostile to Egede is the shaman Aappaluttoq,
whose own son was taken by the priest and raised in the Christian
faith as his own. Thus the great rift between two men, and two ways
of life, is born. The newly arrived couples - men and women plucked
from prison - quickly sink into a life of almost complete
dissolution, and soon unsanitary conditions, illness and death
bring the colony to its knees. Through the starvation and the
epidemics that beset the colony, Egede remains steadfast in his
determination - willing to sacrifice even those he loves for the
sake of his mission. Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken, Kim
Leine's The Colony of Good Hope explores what happens when two
cultures confront one another. In a distant colony, under the
harshest conditions, the overwhelming forces of nature meet the
vices of man.
Idealistic, misguided Morten Falck is a newly ordained priest
sailing to Greenland in 1787 to convert the Inuit to the Danish
church. A rugged outpost battered by harsh winters, Sukkertoppen is
overshadowed by the threat of dissent; natives from neighboring
villages have united to reject Danish rule and establish their own
settlement atop Eternal Fjord. As Falck becomes involved with those
in his care-his ambitious catechist, a lonely trader's wife, and a
fatalistic widow he comes to love-his faith and reputation are
dangerously called into question.
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