Journey: A Novel

by James A. Michener, Steve Berry (Introduction)

Overview

One of the premier novelists of the twentieth century, James A. Michener captures a frenzied time when sane men and women risked their very lives in a forbidding Arctic land to win a dazzling and elusive prize: Yukon gold. In 1897, gold fever sweeps the world. The promise of untold riches lures thousands of dreamers from all walks of life on a perilous trek toward fortune, failure—or death. Journey is an immersive account of the adventures of four English aristocrats and their Irish servant as they haul across cruel Canadian terrain toward the Klondike gold fields. Vivid and sweeping, featuring Michener’s probing insights into the follies and grandeur of the human spirit, this is the kind of novel only he could write.
 
Praise for Journey
 
“Stunning . . . Michener at his best.”—Houston Chronicle
 
“Michener brings sharply into focus the hardships encountered by those who dreamed of striking it rich.”—Associated Press
 
“Michener has amassed a peerless reputation as the heralded dean of the historical tome. . . . Journey is a book that envelops the reader in an atmosphere of hazardous escapades.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
 
“Remarkable . . . superb literature.”—The Pittsburgh Press

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812986754
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/09/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	53,537
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.24(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

James A. Michener was one of the world’s most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Tales of the South Pacific, the bestselling novels The Source, Hawaii, Alaska, Chesapeake, Centennial, Texas, Caribbean, and Caravans, and the memoir The World Is My Home. Michener served on the advisory council to NASA and the International Broadcast Board, which oversees the Voice of America. Among dozens of awards and honors, he received America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977, and an award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 1983 for his commitment to art in America. Michener died in 1997 at the age of ninety.

Date of Birth:

February 3, 1907

Date of Death:

October 16, 1997

Place of Death:

Austin, Texas

Education:

B.A. in English and history (summa cum laude), Swarthmore College, 1929; A.M., University of Northern Colorado, 1937.

Editorial Reviews

Stunning . . . Michener at his best.”—Houston Chronicle
 
“Michener brings sharply into focus the hardships encountered by those who dreamed of striking it rich.”—Associated Press
 
“Michener has amassed a peerless reputation as the heralded dean of the historical tome. . . . Journey is a book that envelops the reader in an atmosphere of hazardous escapades.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
 
“Remarkable . . . superb literature.”—The Pittsburgh Press

From the Publisher

Appearing for the first time in paperback, Michener's 1989 novel follows a British expedition's doomed trek across Canada during the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In July 1897, following the discovery of Klondike gold, four British aristocrats and their Irish servant set out from London to attempt the trek into the gold fields by an exclusively Canadian route. Twenty-three months later, after testing the limits of human endurance, only two men reach their goal. Why another novel (albeit a short one) by Michener about the frozen north so soon after Alaska ( LJ 7/88)? This episode was edited out of Alaska, but Michener, wanting to recount the Canadian role, resurrected it and fleshed it out (one chapter is nothing but British poetry). The plot is thin; the characters shallow; the ending unsatisfying. Only when he is describing terrain does Michener breathe life into this adventure tale. Buy for demand. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club dual main selection.-- Florence Scarinci, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, N.Y.

Library Journal

YA-- This book is a departure from Michener's traditional style of writing long, in-depth, historical sagas featuring one locality. Here he has taken one slice of history, the gold rush of 1897, and shown the courage of five men as they deal with adversity while trying to reach the gold. Four British aristocrats and one Irish servant start their journey in England with visions of finding gold in the wilds of Canada. It begins easily enough, but soon disaster meets them at every turn. Readers will be drawn in by the strong characterizations, the intriguing plot, and the single-minded resolve of these men to reach their dreams. A novel that gives readers a real feel for the frenzy and determination of the men associated with the gold rush--all in less than 250 pages.-- Susan Penny, St. Cecilia's School, Houston

School Library Journal