Twist

Praise

“Colum McCann gives us a powerfully realist novel of men at sea, literally, emotionally, and metaphorically. It speaks of the brokenness of our time, the successful and unsuccessful attempts at repairs, and the vulnerability of our world. The spirit of Joseph Conrad hovers over the text, but here the heart of darkness lies at the bottom of the ocean.”—Salman Rushdie

“Masterfully woven and delicately layered, and told with such calm wisdom that it will take your breath away, Twist is engrossing, deeply moving and consistently honest. Colum McCann is one of our greatest storytellers.”—Elif Shafak

“McCann may follow Coppola upriver and Conrad to the heart of darkness, but the concerns of his novel are contemporary and urgent and utterly compelling. This is an ambitious novel, note-perfect, wild but controlled, with its deft apparatus mapping our most mysterious twenty-first-century malaise—the great loneliness of the connected world.”—Kevin Barry

“What a beautiful, sparkling book this is. Another astounding novel from a fiction master.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“An intriguing story of a journalist sent to report on the complex work of repairing the underwater cables that carry the world’s information . . . McCann skillfully ratchets up the uneasiness on board and later adds a provocative twist, taking the novel in an unexpected direction. Readers will be dazzled.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“McCann (Apeirogon (2021), a writer of ardent empathy and global perception, considers profound aspects of brokenness and repair in a breath-held novel pulsing with echoes of Joseph Conrad freshly illuminating our time of polluted oceans, internet clamor, and perilous polarization…Each line is keenly crafted and every element is momentous in McCann’s ravishing deep dive into connectivity and estrangement, power and plunder, protest and sabotage, creativity and madness.”—Booklist, starred review