Literature Forum: The North Water

The North Water by Ian McGuire; presented by Jack Hall and David Jenkins – This riveting and darkly brilliant 2016 novel by English author Ian McGuire tells the story of a 19^th-century whaling ship that set sail for the Artic with a killer aboard. The two main characters, a disgraced drug-addicted surgeon and a vicious, amoral crewmember, deal with unimaginable physical hardship very different ways. There are echoes of Joseph Conrad and Cormac McCarthy in this highly imaginative and engrossing tale.