Jakob Beer is seven years old when he is rescued from the muddy ruins of a buried village in Nazi-occupied Poland. Of his family, he is the only one who has survived. Under the guidance of the Greek geologist Athos, Jakob must steel himself to excavate the horrors of his own history. A novel of astounding beauty and wisdom, Fugitive Pieces is a profound meditation on the resilience of the human spirit and love's ability to resurrect even the most damaged of hearts.
Accolades
Winner of Orange Prize for Fiction 1997.
Winner of Guardian Fiction Prize 1997.
Reviews
'Monumental. Fugitive Pieces is the most important book I have read for forty years' John Berger, Observer
'This is a novel to lose yourself in; let the language pour over you, depositing its richness like waves lapping sand onto a beach. Michaels is a novelist of unusual and compelling power' Erica Wagner, The Times
'Essential reading, both for its exceptional literary craft and for its exemplary and inspiring humanity' Spectator
'All except a handful of contemporary novels are dwarfed by its reach, its compassion, its wisdom A book to read many times' Geoff Dyer, Independent
'Jacob Beer is a Jewish poet who, as a child in Poland, escaped when the Nazis exterminated his family and was found by Athos, a Greek archaeologist, starving and dishevelled, hiding in a bag. Athos smuggles the child back to Greece and rears him as a son. There is a lyrical quality to Anne Michael's account of the two on a wartime Greek island living frugally and avoiding the German presence, but Jacob is haunted by the memory of his family, especially his pianist sister Bella. The author, herself a poet, uses words like paint. Her fugitive pieces give vivid sketches of a world criss-crossed by refugees spilling their talents on foreign soil. Winner of the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction.' Kirkus Reviews
Author Biography
Anne Michaels' most recent book, Poems, published in 2000, includes three collections of poetry: The Weight of Oranges, which won the Commonwealth Prize for the Americas; Miner's Pond, which won the Canadian Authors Association Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and the Trillium Award; and Skin Divers. Fugitive Pieces was originally published by Bloomsbury in 1997 to worldwide critical acclaim. It won the Orange Prize and the Trillium Award among others, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Canadian Booksellers Association Author of the Year Award. It was also made into a major motion picture. Anne Michaels has also composed music for the theatre. Born in 1958, Anne Michaels lives in Toronto.
