Explorers of the New Century

Magnus Mills, Booker-shortlisted author of The Restraint of Beasts, joins Bloomsbury with this brilliantly commercial, blindingly intelligent and utterly unique new novel

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Daily we stumble over shale and flint, toiling onwards in the vague belief that at some distant time and place we'll see the sun rise again; and that spreading before us will be vast, hospitable ranges where the mules may finally be turned loose. It is the beginning of the century, and two teams of explorers are racing across a cold, windswept, deserted land to reach the furthest point from civilisation. This is, they find, 'an awfully long way'. We are gripped by the progress of the two rival teams as they struggle with the elements, each other and the mules who accompany them. Johns and his men take the western route, along a rocky scree, gossiping, bickering and grumbling as they go. Meanwhile, Tostig's men make their way along the dry riverbed, in the east. They are fewer, with just five men and ten mules, and better organised than their rivals. But with Johns' team keeping apace in the distance, the race is on to reach the Agreed Furthest Point Refreshingly original, finely crafted, and with a unique and comic vision, Explorers of the New Century takes us on an adventure unlike any other.