ABBEY’S BOOKSELLER PICK —— Katerina Klova and her mother are sailing on the Aquitania to Paris, where she anticipates being reunited with her father and her beloved brother Kornel, who is soon to graduate from a military academy. When her mother suffers from a psychotic episode, Katerina is free to wander the ship, meeting unsettling characters and witnessing inexplicable incidents. Set over the course of New Year's Eve 1938, this extraordinary literary fiction is full of rich and strange imagery, and is an unflinching examination of fragility, darkness and impending tragedy. Lindy Jones
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In this haunting new novel, Katerina Klova and her mother are crossing the Atlantic by ocean liner. When Anne suffers a psychotic breakdown, Katerina is left alone on a ship full of strangers who span classes and stations, all of whom carry their ambitions, fears and obsessions with them. For a seventeen-year-old girl, the daughter of an ambassador, it’s an exciting, frightening world to navigate.
Through the eyes of Katerina and her own family’s place within a fracturing world, we see the way damage, yet also hope, are passed from one generation to another. A.S. Patrić’s writing in Atlantic Black is achingly tender, the tone merciless but heartbreaking in its compassion.
The story takes place over one day and night, New Year’s Eve, 1939. The RMS Aquitania steams across the Atlantic ocean. On the horizon the world is about to explode.
‘A powerful and mesmerising voyage into darkness. Atlantic Black creates an indelible portrait of humanity sailing towards war.’
Heather Rose, Winner of the 2017 Stella Prize
‘I am still walking the slick decks of Atlantic Black, looking for a way out for both myself and Katerina. She is a singular character – such a perfect and excruciating balance of acting and being acted upon. A brilliant and devastating novel that will not let me go.’
Myfanwy Jones, author Leap
