{"product_id":"bright-and-distant-shores-paperback","title":"Bright and Distant Shores - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDominic Smith\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the\u003ci\u003e New York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Last Painting of Sara de Vos\u003c\/i\u003e comes a sweeping historical novel set amid the skyscrapers of 1890s Chicago and the far-flung islands of the South Pacific.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the waning years of the nineteenth century there was a hunger for tribal artifacts, spawning collecting voyages from museums and collectors around the globe. In 1897, one such collector, a Chicago insurance magnate, sponsors an expedition into the South Seas to commemorate the completion of his company's new skyscraper--the world's tallest building. The ship is to bring back an array of Melanesian weaponry and handicrafts, but also several natives related by blood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCaught up in this scheme are two orphans--Owen Graves, an itinerant trader from Chicago's South Side who has recently proposed to the girl he must leave behind, and Argus Niu, a mission houseboy in the New Hebrides who longs to be reunited with his sister. At the cusp of the twentieth century, the expedition forces a collision course between the tribal and the civilized, between two young men plagued by their respective and haunting pasts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn epic and ambitious story that brings to mind E.L. Doctorow, with echoes of Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson, \u003ci\u003eBright and Distant Shores\u003c\/i\u003e is a wondrous achievement by a writer known for creating compelling fiction from the fabric of history.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eDominic Smith grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Austin, Texas. He holds an MFA in writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. His short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHis awards include the Dobie Paisano Fellowship from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Prize, and the Gulf Coast Fiction Prize. In 2006, his debut novel \u003ci\u003eThe Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre\u003c\/i\u003e received the Steven Turner Prize for First Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDominic serves on the fiction faculty in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and has taught recently at the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University. Find out more at www.dominicsmith.net.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 480\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.3 x 8.2 x 5.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 13, 2011\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327077126381,"sku":"9781439198865","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0020\/8918\/9441\/files\/JbgDp1_13V9781439198865.webp?v=1784875976","url":"https:\/\/www.webster.direct\/en-au\/products\/bright-and-distant-shores-paperback","provider":"Webster.Direct","version":"1.0","type":"link"}