{"product_id":"9780007568055","title":"Barkskins: Longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017","description":"\u003cp\u003e\n          \u003cstrong\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2017\u003c\/strong\u003e\n        \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n          \u003cstrong\u003eNOW A MAJOR TELEVISION SERIES\u003c\/strong\u003e\n        \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Annie Proulx, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003cem\u003eThe Shipping News\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBrokeback Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e, comes her masterwork: an epic, dazzling, violent, magnificently dramatic novel about the taking down of the world’s forests.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the late seventeenth century two penniless young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord, a “seigneur,” for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters – barkskins. René suffers extraordinary hardship, oppressed by the forest he is charged with clearing. He is forced to marry a Mi’kmaw woman and their descendants live trapped between two inimical cultures. But Duquet, crafty and ruthless, runs away from the seigneur, becomes a fur trader, then sets up a timber business. Proulx tells the stories of the descendants of Sel and Duquet over three hundred years – their travels across North America, to Europe, China, and New Zealand, under stunningly brutal conditions; the revenge of rivals; accidents; pestilence; Indian attacks; and cultural annihilation. Over and over again, they seize what they can of a presumed infinite resource, leaving the modern-day characters face to face with possible ecological collapse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProulx’s inimitable genius is her creation of characters who are so vivid – in their greed, lust, vengefulness, or their simple compassion and hope – that we follow them with fierce attention. Annie Proulx is one of the most formidable and compelling American writers, and \u003cem\u003eBarkskins\u003c\/em\u003e is her greatest novel, a magnificent marriage of history and imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis historical saga, penned by the literary genius Annie Proulx, takes us on a journey through rural and small towns, immersing us in the native and aboriginal cultures. It's no wonder that Barkskins has been recognised as one of the best and top works in its genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor fans of Percival L. Everett (James), Denis Johnson (The Largesse of the Sea Maiden), Larry Mcmurtry (All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers), Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead), and Cormac Mccarthy (All the Pretty Horses).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Annie Proulx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46889066102933,"sku":"9780007568055","price":39.49,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780007568055.jpg?v=1776888344","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780007568055","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}