Jack Maggs Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Jack Maggs Book

As a novelist, Peter Carey is hardly a stranger to the 19th century: his Oscar and Lucinda was a veritable treasure-trove of Victoriana. In this novel, however, Carey has set himself an even more complicated task--reinterpreting not only a vanished era but one of that era's masterpieces. Jack Maggs is a variation on Great Expectations, in which Dickens's tale is told from the viewpoint of Australian convict Abel Magwitch. The names, it's true, have been tinkered with, but the book's literary paternity is unmistakable. So, too, is the post- colonial spin that Carey puts on Dickens's material: this time around, the prodigal Maggs is perceived less as an invading alien than a righteous (if not particularly welcome) refugee. Of course, rewriting a page-turner from the past offers some major perils, not the least of them being comparisons to the original. Carey, however, more than withstands the test of time, alluding to the formality of Victorian prose without ever bending over backward to duplicate it. In addition, his eye for physical detail--and the ways in which such details open small or large windows onto character--is on par with that of Dickens. Here, for example, he pins down both the body and soul of a household servant: "Miss Mott was lean and sinewy and there was nowhere much for such a violent shiver to hide itself. Consequently it went right up her spine and disappeared inside her little white cap and then, just when it seemed lost, it came out the other side and pulled up the ends of her thin mouth in a grimace." Throw in a wicked mastery of period slang, a subplot about Victorian mesmerism (of which Dickens was, in fact, a practitioner) and an amazing storytelling gift, and you have a novel which meets and exceeds almost any expectation one might bring to it. Read More

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  • Amazon

    Jack Maggs, raised and deported as a criminal, has returned from Australia, in secret and at great risk. What does he want after all these years, and why is he so interested in the comings and goings at a plush town house in Great Queen Street? In this novel, one of the finest of contemporary writers pays homage to his Victorian forebears.

  • Foyles

    London,1837. Jack Maggs, raised and deported as a criminal, has returned from Australia, in secret and at great risk. What does he want after all these years, and why is he so interested in the comings and goings at a plush townhouse in Great Queen Street? And why is Jack himself an object of such interest to Tobias Oates, celebrated author, amateur hypnotist and fellow burglar - in this case of people's minds, of their histories and inner phantoms? A thrilling story of mesmerism and possession, of dangerous bargains and illicit love against the backdrop of Victorian London.

  • BookDepository

    Jack Maggs : Paperback : Faber & Faber : 9780571270170 : 0571270174 : 03 Feb 2011 : What does he want after all these years, and why is he so interested in the comings and goings at a plush townhouse in Great Queen Street? And why is Jack himself an object of such interest to Tobias Oates, celebrated author, amateur hypnotist and fellow burglar - in this case of people's minds, of their histories and inner phantoms?

  • ASDA

    Jack Maggs raised and deported as a criminal has returned from Australia in secret and at great risk. What does he want after all these years and why is he so interested in the comings and goings at a plush town house in Great Queen Street? In this novel one of the finest of contemporary writers pays homage to his Victorian forebears.

  • 0571270174
  • 9780571270170
  • Peter Carey
  • 3 February 2011
  • Faber & Faber
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 336
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