The Crossing

Told in his usual exquisite prose, the story centres on the strangely reticent character of Maud, who leaves the West Country after a tragedy and bravely attempts to single-handedly sail across the Atlantic. You know you're going to like a character when, in the first few pages, she falls 20ft in a boatyard, then gets up and tries to walk. Infused with nautical detail and the cool brine of the sea, this is perfect summer reading -- Sarah Hall * Observer *
We readers have a most fabulous time . . . Maud, and questions about Maud, will linger in your mind long after you close this remarkable novel * Guardian *
Hypnotic . . . Andrew Miller has a poet's ear but he can also write white-knuckle passages that will leave you winded by towering waves. Most surprising of all, you'll find yourself rooting for Maud as she confronts the limits of her own detachment * Mail on Sunday *
Visceral and exquisitely written . . . few characters are so neutrally, impassively masterful. In her silence she is magnificent . . . Miller, wisely, hardly analyses Maud. But the portrayal of this practical, disconcerting figure is wildly emotional * Lady *
Achieves a kind of hallucinatory strangeness, simultaneously intriguing and disturbing * Spectator *
Part relationship study, part sailing yarn, this odd yet enthralling book lingers long in the mind -- Books of the Year * Financial Times *
A beautiful novel; moving, funny, mysterious and compelling. Maud is a stunning creation - a great modern heroine with a pure ancient heart -- Patrick Marber, author of Closer
His structure - perfectly linear yet radically fragmented - tests the extremes to which one character's trajectory can lead, and each half is strangely gripping in very different ways . . . deeply intriguing -- Francesca Wade * Financial Times *
Whether he sets a story in the 18th century or the present, and no matter his subject, [Miller's] prose is highly distinctive in its detached precision. He writes like a scientist, utterly shorn of sentimentality, patient and clear-eyed * New York Times Book Review *