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Exiles
A luminous exploration of exile - the people who have experienced it, and the places they inhabit - from the award-winning travel writer and author of The Immeasurable World and The Moor.
'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
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 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 Shternberg, 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 understand 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.
'A fascinating study of exile and its effects.'
OBSERVER
'[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
'Thrilling.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'A finely crafted and lyrical meditation.' TLS
'Gracefully written . . . Brilliant.' THE ECONOMIST
'Rarely has a book been more timely.' HISTORY TODAY
***
Read The Moor and The Immeasureable World for more award-winning writing from William Atkins
'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
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 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 Shternberg, 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 understand 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.
'A fascinating study of exile and its effects.'
OBSERVER
'[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
'Thrilling.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'A finely crafted and lyrical meditation.' TLS
'Gracefully written . . . Brilliant.' THE ECONOMIST
'Rarely has a book been more timely.' HISTORY TODAY
***
Read The Moor and The Immeasureable World for more award-winning writing from William Atkins
307 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2023
12 people are currently reading
256 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 31, 2023
what a book!!! so much to learn about and so much to think about!!
to-buy
June 6, 2022Review in economist
August 3, 2022
I read stories, a collage of stories if you like, but I wasn’t sure if they would create a bigger picture, something more than their passing impression.
Louise Michel took part in the 1870 Paris Commune revolt against the restored monarchy and was exiled from Paris to New Caledonia (Pacific) in 1873. The island had been occupied by the Kanaks until French colonialism used the island as a penal colony, gradually moving the Kanaks off their land, claiming it as “owned” by the colonists. Atkins visits in 2018 when a referendum is being held as to whether New Caledonia will become independent from France, doomed as the French colonists now outnumber the original Kanaks.
Dinizulu kaCetshwayo was exiled from his kingdom of Zululand to St Helena (Atlantic) in 1890, after resisting the British (and Boer) encroachment of his country. When he returned to Africa, Zululand had been partitioned into smaller kingdoms, and when resistance to the British appropriation of land arose, he was held responsible and exiled within South Africa.
Lev Shternberg was exiled for being a socialist agitator from Moscow to Sakhalin (in the Sea of Okhotsk, Northern Pacific) in 1889. He studied the customs of the indigenous Nivkh people, which formed the basis for his ethnographic studies.
Atkins travels to all three places of exile, which all remain remote, and provides us with his impressions and descriptions of his chance encounters, trying to get closer to feelings his subjects must have felt. These are interesting and the strongest part of the book for me.
These nineteenth century political exiles have differing responses to their exile, although they all physically survive to return to their original homes, although these places have changed.
Overall, an interesting read, but impressionistic, a collage allowing you to come to your own conclusions about exile, although Atkins indicates his own views. The book is top and tailed by broader thoughts about modern migrants, but although well meaning, these sections are dislocated from the main discussion of exiles, weakening the book.
One way of looking at this book is as a collection of stories pieced together, in the field, from lives shattered by exile. But in making the three journeys at its heart, I set out as a biographer only in a limited sense. It was less the life's course I was interested in tracing than the cracks in that life set off by the experience of exile. As I travelled I saw how those cracks intruded, continued to intrude, deep into the lives of others. The people I encountered, the living and the dead, often turned out to be exiles themselves, of one sort or another, sometimes yearning for a belonging that eluded them, sometimes living at peace with their state of unbelonging.
Louise Michel took part in the 1870 Paris Commune revolt against the restored monarchy and was exiled from Paris to New Caledonia (Pacific) in 1873. The island had been occupied by the Kanaks until French colonialism used the island as a penal colony, gradually moving the Kanaks off their land, claiming it as “owned” by the colonists. Atkins visits in 2018 when a referendum is being held as to whether New Caledonia will become independent from France, doomed as the French colonists now outnumber the original Kanaks.
Dinizulu kaCetshwayo was exiled from his kingdom of Zululand to St Helena (Atlantic) in 1890, after resisting the British (and Boer) encroachment of his country. When he returned to Africa, Zululand had been partitioned into smaller kingdoms, and when resistance to the British appropriation of land arose, he was held responsible and exiled within South Africa.
Lev Shternberg was exiled for being a socialist agitator from Moscow to Sakhalin (in the Sea of Okhotsk, Northern Pacific) in 1889. He studied the customs of the indigenous Nivkh people, which formed the basis for his ethnographic studies.
Atkins travels to all three places of exile, which all remain remote, and provides us with his impressions and descriptions of his chance encounters, trying to get closer to feelings his subjects must have felt. These are interesting and the strongest part of the book for me.
These nineteenth century political exiles have differing responses to their exile, although they all physically survive to return to their original homes, although these places have changed.
Overall, an interesting read, but impressionistic, a collage allowing you to come to your own conclusions about exile, although Atkins indicates his own views. The book is top and tailed by broader thoughts about modern migrants, but although well meaning, these sections are dislocated from the main discussion of exiles, weakening the book.
One way of looking at this book is as a collection of stories pieced together, in the field, from lives shattered by exile. But in making the three journeys at its heart, I set out as a biographer only in a limited sense. It was less the life's course I was interested in tracing than the cracks in that life set off by the experience of exile. As I travelled I saw how those cracks intruded, continued to intrude, deep into the lives of others. The people I encountered, the living and the dead, often turned out to be exiles themselves, of one sort or another, sometimes yearning for a belonging that eluded them, sometimes living at peace with their state of unbelonging.
May 19, 2024
A gifted storyteller takes one on three epic journeys: to New Caledonia, St Helena and Sakhalin - all of them outposts of Empire. He also recounts the same journeys undertaken over a hundred years ago by Louise Michel, Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo and Lev Shternberg - all of them prisoners and outcasts of Empire.
The author traces the fortunes and follies, the triumphs and tragedies, of these exiles and the people and regimes which imprisoned them. This is a rich tapestry of cause and effect.
The writing is genuine. Nothing is postured or romanticised. I found the book refreshingly different and extraordinarily revelatory. It is rich in detail and more relevant than ever as Europe turns its back on more and more displaced and needful people.
The author traces the fortunes and follies, the triumphs and tragedies, of these exiles and the people and regimes which imprisoned them. This is a rich tapestry of cause and effect.
The writing is genuine. Nothing is postured or romanticised. I found the book refreshingly different and extraordinarily revelatory. It is rich in detail and more relevant than ever as Europe turns its back on more and more displaced and needful people.
February 29, 2024
Through the experiences of three quite different individuals, when exiled from their country of birth ,William Atkins provides a fascinating insight into, not only the fate of these individuals, but also what was achieved by this form of punishment. Certainly it resonates with the current government's plan to send migrants to Rwanda compared to the welcoming attitude of the UK prevelant to such people as highlighted in Exiles. I would thoroughly recommend this book.
September 28, 2025
Non sono riuscito (mea culpa) a cogliere il significato di questo libro. Mi è sembrata una semplice raccolta di tre storie distinte che poco hanno a che fare l'una con l'altra, non ho trovato nemmeno così forte quel legame che dovrebbe essere alla base del libro, e cioè l'esilio dei tre personaggi. Nel complesso un libro che ho preso con grandi aspettative, ma che alla fine si è rivelato macchinoso da leggere, lento nella trama, e che mi è costato un grande sforzo finire.
June 17, 2024
2.5 - 3 stars
I think the stories told here are very interesting but I couldn't fully connect with the writing style. I find myself much more gripped when the focus of the book is on one bit of historical character (especially Louise Michel) But then the interweaving back and forth between the travelwriting bits and the historical narrative bits lost me a bit.
I think the stories told here are very interesting but I couldn't fully connect with the writing style. I find myself much more gripped when the focus of the book is on one bit of historical character (especially Louise Michel) But then the interweaving back and forth between the travelwriting bits and the historical narrative bits lost me a bit.
December 11, 2022
The way William wrote about Louise Michel made me feel like I knew her as a friend. "Exile" is not the end of the world, it enables one to become a global citizen. William is indeed such a talented writer. Thank you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2026
"La soluzione di Louise Michel era questa: vivere come se non fossimo francesi, kanak, russi, zulu o inglesi, ma come se tutto il mondo, l'universo, fosse la nostra città d'origine. Il prezzo da pagare, come capì Tjibaou, è sentirsi sempre senza casa"
Un po' troppo confusionario
Un po' troppo confusionario
September 13, 2023
Beautiful book
January 3, 2026
good & some very interesting tidbits!!! just a bit long, and maybe lacking more connection between the three stories
June 23, 2025
A book about 3 people in 17th/18th centuries arrested for politically motivated believes and sent half way around the world into exile.From 3 different countries to 3 different islands.
The book is in 3 parts Before exile , exile and after. Along side this the author travels to the 3 islands and also discusses the effects of exile.
Not my normal genre but enjoyed it. learnt a lot.
The book is in 3 parts Before exile , exile and after. Along side this the author travels to the 3 islands and also discusses the effects of exile.
Not my normal genre but enjoyed it. learnt a lot.
March 13, 2024
Really empathetic blend of history and travel around a strong central concept of the remoteness of 19th century exile-as-a-prison-sentence for dissidents.
August 18, 2023
Great historical figures to explore but very clumsily executed - author digresses a lot, shining a light on seemingly peripheral issues without strongly directly linking back to the main protagonists and leaving readers struggling to understand where the story is going. What first started as a series of quite poignant and factual items about the protagonists later evolved into a nunber of approximations and wikipedia-esque information, punctuated with unnecessary and banal personal observations, which drown the core purpose of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews