In 1857 Chester Ludlow, an American engineer, witnesses the launch of the largest steamship ever built, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's The Great Eastern. But as chief engineer, the charsimatic Ludlow finds himself caught not only in the new technology but also in the business of promotion.

Signal and Noise

Literature & Fiction

GRIESEMER, JOHN

Contemporary

Hutchinson

On a dark, wet London morning in 1857, Chester Ludlow, an American engineer, arrives on the muddy banks of the Isle of Dogs to witness the launch of the largest steamship ever built, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's The Great Eastern. Ludlow, propelled by fierce ambition, is a key member of a small consortium whose ambition is to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable. He has abandoned his fragile wife, Franny, on their estate in Maine. The couple are still in deep mourning for their daughter who died in a tragic accident, aged only four. As chief engineer, the charismatic Ludlow finds himself caught up not only in the new technology but also in the business of promotion, in order to fund this massively ambitious project. And this brings him in touch with a woman who will exert the most powerful influence on his life and work - the beautiful and enigmatic Katerina Lindt. As both Ludlow and Franny's lives start to unravel, they find themselves caught up in a relentless tide of change crashing across both continents and blurring the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual worlds.

Signal & Noise

No One Thinks of Greenland: A Novel

“You’ll want to scratch.” These spoken words open to us the strange and beguiling world of young Rudy Spruance, forced to join the military due to a mysterious past, and sent for some inexplicable reason to a top-secret military hospital in Greenland. There he meets a wide cast of unusual and colorful characters, outcasts and rejects all; begins to fall for the commanding officer’s leggy and strong-willed girlfriend; and slowly uncovers the awful secret behind the portion of the base dubbed “the Wing.”

United States

Picador

"You'll want to scratch." These spoken words open to us the strange and beguiling world of young Rudy Spruance, forced to join the military due to a mysterious past, and sent for some inexplicable reason to a top-secret military hospital in Greenland. There he meets a wide cast of unusual and colorful characters, outcasts and rejects all; begins to fall for the commanding officer's leggy and strong-willed girlfriend; and slowly uncovers the awful secret behind the portion of the base dubbed "the Wing."

Signal &amp; Noise is the epic page-turning story of the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable, and the men and women who are caught in its monumental tide. It is also a novel about the collision of worlds seen and unseen: the present and the future; the living and the dead; the real and the imagined. On a wet London morning in 1857, American engineer Chester Ludlow arrives on the muddy banks of the Isle of Dogs to witness the launch of the largest steamship ever built, the Great Eastern. Also amidst the tumultuous throng is Jack Trace, a lonely bachelor and sketch artist hoping to make his name as an illustrator and journalist in the hurly burly of Fleet Street. Other witnesses include a drunken German by the name of Marx; the child who will christen the massive vessel by the wrong name; and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the ship’s apoplectic and dwarfish architect who will soon die in ignominy. As chief engineer for the Atlantic Cable Company, the charismatic Chester enters the orbit of business and showmanship embodied by J. Beaumol Spude, the bombastic Western beef magnate who will mastermind the funding of the project; Joachim Lindt, creator of the Phantasmagorium, an animated tableaux vivant; and his beautiful wife, the musician Katerina Lindt. Drawn by the demands and adventure of creating the first transoceanic telegraph, Chester leaves behind his fragile wife, Franny, at the family estate of Willing Mind in Maine. Abandoned and still mourning the accidental death of their four-year-old daughter, Franny finds solace in the company of Chester’s troubled brother, Otis, who introduces her to the mysteries of the world of spiritualism just as séancing is becoming all the rage in the jittery times leading up to the Civil War. As Chester achieves renown as the glamorous engineer of the trans-Atlantic project, Franny, desperate to contact her dead child, becomes the preeminent spirit conjuror of a war-torn America.

Signal & Noise: A Novel

On a wet London morning in 1857, American engineer Chester Ludlow arrives on the muddy banks of the Isle of Dogs to witness the launch of the largest steamship ever built, the Great Eastern. Also amidst the tumultuous throng is Jack Trace, a lonely bachelor and sketch artist hoping to make his name as an illustrator and journalist in the hurly burly of Fleet Street. The two men, along with Ludlow's wife Franny, his imposing brother Otis, the bombastic entrepreneur J. Beaumol Spude, the dwarfish inventor of the Great Eastern, the creator of the modern sewer system, his adulterous wife, and a wily prostitute will all become involved with various modes of communication, with the realization of the Victorian age. They will witness and participate in the creation of the first transoceanic telegraph cable. It is the thread that will connect worlds and break apart lives.

Rausch

Piper Verlag GmbH

Rausch: Roman

FISCHER Taschenbuch

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Books by GRIESEMER, JOHN

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by GRIESEMER, JOHN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Signal and Noise

Signal & Noise

No One Thinks of Greenland: A Novel

No One Thinks of Greenland: A Novel

Signal & Noise: A Novel

Signal & Noise: A Novel

Rausch

Rausch: Roman