Exiles

Three Island Journeys

William Atkins

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Paperback

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English

Faber & Faber
26 September 2023

General & world history; History of other lands; Geography; Travel writing

'Breathtakingly good . . . Exiles is completely sui generis.' - EDMUND DE WAAL

'Atkins spins a marvellous tapestry of colourful tales, beautifully weaving history and travel accounts.'- ANDREA WULF, author of The Invention of Nature

'A volume for our times.' - SARA WHEELER, THE SPECTATOR

'A fascinating study of exile and its effects.' - OBSERVER

This is the story of three unheralded nineteenth-century dissidents, whose lives were profoundly shaped by the winds of empire, nationalism and autocracy that continue to blow strongly today: Louise Michel, a leader of the radical socialist government known as the Paris Commune; Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo, an enemy of British colonialism in Zululand; and Lev Shtern-berg, a militant campaigner against Russian tsarism.

In Exiles, William Atkins travels to their islands of banishment - Michel's New Caledonia in the South Pacific, Dinuzulu's St Helena in the South Atlantic, and Shternberg's Sakhalin off the Siberian coast - in a bid to under-stand how exile shaped them and the people among whom they were exiled. In doing so he illuminates the solidarities that emerged between the exiled subject, on the one hand, and the colonised subject, on the other. Rendering these figures and the places they were forced to occupy in shimmering detail, Atkins reveals deeply human truths about displacement, colonialism and what it means to have and to lose a home.

Occupying the fertile zone where history, biography and travel writing meet, Exiles is a masterpiece of imaginative empathy.

'[Atkins] is humane, humble, and empathetic . . . beautiful and moving.' - ILYA KAMINSKY, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa

'An incredible, brilliant act of retrieval.' - PHILIP HOARE, author of Albert & the Whale

'A finely crafted and lyrical meditation.' TLS'Gracefully written . . . Brilliant.' - THE ECONOMIST

'Rarely has a book been more timely.' - HISTORY TODAY

By: William Atkins
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 266g
ISBN: 9780571352999
ISBN 10: 0571352995
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 26 September 2023
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

William Atkins' first book, The Moor, was shortlisted for the Thwaites Wainwright Prize, and his second, The Immeasurable World, was published by Faber in June 2018; it was the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. He works as an editor and his journalism has appeared in the Guardian and Granta. In 2016 he was a recipient of the British Library Eccles Prize. He lives in Suffolk.