The Colour

Winner of the whitbread Novel of the year award for music and silence. 'This is a writer whose breadthof imagination and supple prose transcend the genre: she is one of the finest writers i in English' Daily Telegraph. Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in search of new beginnings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in the creek he is seized by a rapturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his farm and family, he sets off alone for the new gold-fields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams of 'the colour', - are violentlly rushing to their destinies. By turnsboth moving and terrifying, The Colour is about a quest for the impossible, an attempt to mine the complexities of love and explore the sacrifices to be made in the pursuit of happiness. 'Tremain has produced her own wondrous piece of gold' Scotsman. 'A fabulous work, bravely imaginative, deeply moving, surprising, invigorating and satisfying' Independent.