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February's Book of the Month: Yann Martel's 'The High Mountains of Portugal'

As we enter the second month of the year, January’s good intentions can begin to slide. But...
Newstalk
Newstalk

15.31 1 Feb 2016


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February's Book of the...

February's Book of the Month: Yann Martel's 'The High Mountains of Portugal'

Newstalk
Newstalk

15.31 1 Feb 2016


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As we enter the second month of the year, January’s good intentions can begin to slide. But if you set yourself a reading challenge and are trying to dip into more books in 2016, why not join in with the members of the Eason’s Book Club on The Pat Kenny Show. They’ll be tackling the new novel from the award-winning Canadian writer Yann Martel, The High Mountains of Portugal.

To suffer and do nothing is to be nothing, while to suffer and do something is to become someone. In Lisbon in 1904, a young man named Tomás discovers an old journal. It hints at the location of an extraordinary artefact that - if it exists - would redefine history. Travelling in one of Europe's earliest automobiles, he sets out in search of this treasure.

Some thirty-five years later, a Portuguese pathologist finds himself at the centre of a murder mystery. Fifty years on, a Canadian senator takes refuge in northern Portugal, grieving the loss of his beloved wife. But he comes to his ancestral village with an unusual companion: a chimpanzee.

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Three stories. Three broken hearts. One exploration: what is a life without stories? The High Mountains of Portugal takes the reader on a road trip through Portugal in the last century - and through the human soul.

Chosen by Book Club member Brian Kennedy, get reading and tune into the show on Wednesday, February 24th.

For more book news on Newstalk.com, please click here.


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