What do you think?
Rate this book
TransAtlantico
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction (2013)Terranova, 1919: gli aviatori Alcock e Brown fanno rotta sull’Irlanda nel primo tentativo di trasvolata atlantica senza scalo, affidandosi, per esorcizzarne gli orrori, a un bombardiere modificato della Grande Guerra.
Dublino, 1845: in tournée oltreoceano per promuovere la sua sovversiva autobiografia, Frederick Douglass trova negli irlandesi un popolo aperto alla rivoluzionaria causa dell’abolizionismo, nonostante la devastante carestia che impone ai poveri sofferenze terribili persino agli occhi di uno schiavo americano. New York, 1998: lasciata a casa la giovane moglie e un figlio appena nato, il senatore George Mitchell parte per Belfast con il compito di condurre a termine le trattative di pace nella martoriata Irlanda del Nord. Questi tre emblematici viaggi sono legati tra loro da una misteriosa lettera che attenderà un secolo prima di essere aperta, e dai destini di quattro donne determinate a curare le ferite della vita con la dolce ostinazione della femminilità.
Prendendo le mosse da un episodio reale, con TransAtlantic McCann ci consegna il suo romanzo più ambizioso e poetico: una costruzione dal respiro malinconico che mette superbamente in scena una meditazione profonda sulla Storia e sull’identità in un mondo che anno dopo anno si fa più piccolo, strabiliante e affamato di libertà.
Dublino, 1845: in tournée oltreoceano per promuovere la sua sovversiva autobiografia, Frederick Douglass trova negli irlandesi un popolo aperto alla rivoluzionaria causa dell’abolizionismo, nonostante la devastante carestia che impone ai poveri sofferenze terribili persino agli occhi di uno schiavo americano. New York, 1998: lasciata a casa la giovane moglie e un figlio appena nato, il senatore George Mitchell parte per Belfast con il compito di condurre a termine le trattative di pace nella martoriata Irlanda del Nord. Questi tre emblematici viaggi sono legati tra loro da una misteriosa lettera che attenderà un secolo prima di essere aperta, e dai destini di quattro donne determinate a curare le ferite della vita con la dolce ostinazione della femminilità.
Prendendo le mosse da un episodio reale, con TransAtlantic McCann ci consegna il suo romanzo più ambizioso e poetico: una costruzione dal respiro malinconico che mette superbamente in scena una meditazione profonda sulla Storia e sull’identità in un mondo che anno dopo anno si fa più piccolo, strabiliante e affamato di libertà.
348 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2013
About the author
Colum McCann
84 books4,631 followersSign up for Colum's newsletter: http://bit.ly/mccannsignup
Colum McCann is the author of three collections of short stories and six novels, including "Apeirogon," published in Spring 2020. His other books include "TransAtlantic," "Let the Great World Spin," "This Side of Brightness,""Dancer," “Zoli,” "American Mother" (2024), and "Twist" (2025), all of which are international best-sellers.
"American Mother is a book that will shake your soul out," says Sting.
American Mother, written with Diane Foley and published in January of 2024, takes us deep into the story of Diane Foley; whose son Jim, a freelance journalist, was held captive by ISIS before being beheaded in the Syrian desert.
Diane’s voice is channeled into searing reality by Colum, who brings us on a journey of strength, resilience, and radical empathy.
Apeirogon (2020) became a best-seller on four continents.
“Let the Great World Spin” won the National Book Award in 2009.
Colum was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a journalist in The Irish Press. In the early 1980's he took a bicycle across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. After a year and a half in Japan, he and his wife Allison moved to New York where they currently live with their three children, Isabella, John Michael and Christian.
His fiction has been published in over 40 languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Paris Review and other places. He has written for numerous publications including The Irish Times, Die Zeit, La Republicca, Paris Match, The New York Times, the Guardian and the Independent.
Colum has won numerous international awards. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists, Aosdana. He has also received a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres from the French government. He is the cofounder of the global non-profit story exchange organisation Narrative 4.
In December 2023 Colum (as co-founder of Narrative 4) was the 2023 Humanitarian Award nominee, awarded by the United Nations delegations at the Ambassador's Ball in New York City.
In 2003, Colum was named Esquire magazine's "Writer of the Year." Other awards and honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Independent Hughes and Hughes/Sunday Independent Novel of the Year 2003, and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame for Irish Literature.
His short film "Everything in this Country Must," directed by Gary McKendry, was nominated for an Academy Award Oscar in 2005.
Colum teaches in Hunter College in New York, in the Creative Writing program, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Tea Obreht.
Colum McCann is the author of three collections of short stories and six novels, including "Apeirogon," published in Spring 2020. His other books include "TransAtlantic," "Let the Great World Spin," "This Side of Brightness,""Dancer," “Zoli,” "American Mother" (2024), and "Twist" (2025), all of which are international best-sellers.
"American Mother is a book that will shake your soul out," says Sting.
American Mother, written with Diane Foley and published in January of 2024, takes us deep into the story of Diane Foley; whose son Jim, a freelance journalist, was held captive by ISIS before being beheaded in the Syrian desert.
Diane’s voice is channeled into searing reality by Colum, who brings us on a journey of strength, resilience, and radical empathy.
Apeirogon (2020) became a best-seller on four continents.
“Let the Great World Spin” won the National Book Award in 2009.
Colum was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a journalist in The Irish Press. In the early 1980's he took a bicycle across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a program for juvenile delinquents in Texas. After a year and a half in Japan, he and his wife Allison moved to New York where they currently live with their three children, Isabella, John Michael and Christian.
His fiction has been published in over 40 languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Paris Review and other places. He has written for numerous publications including The Irish Times, Die Zeit, La Republicca, Paris Match, The New York Times, the Guardian and the Independent.
Colum has won numerous international awards. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists, Aosdana. He has also received a Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres from the French government. He is the cofounder of the global non-profit story exchange organisation Narrative 4.
In December 2023 Colum (as co-founder of Narrative 4) was the 2023 Humanitarian Award nominee, awarded by the United Nations delegations at the Ambassador's Ball in New York City.
In 2003, Colum was named Esquire magazine's "Writer of the Year." Other awards and honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Independent Hughes and Hughes/Sunday Independent Novel of the Year 2003, and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame for Irish Literature.
His short film "Everything in this Country Must," directed by Gary McKendry, was nominated for an Academy Award Oscar in 2005.
Colum teaches in Hunter College in New York, in the Creative Writing program, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Tea Obreht.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!