Signal and Noise

by JohnGriesemer (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2004

  $4.18

  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.

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $3.24

  This is the epic, page-turning story of the laying of the first transatlantic cable, and the men and women who are caught up 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 dark 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. Propelled by fierce ambition, Ludlow abandons his fragile wife, Franny, in Maine. The couple are still grieving for their daughter, who died, aged only four, in a tragic accident. And Franny finds some solace in the company of Chester's troubled brother, who introduces her to the mysteries of spiritualism. Chester, Otis and Franny must confront disaster and despair before they can discover any kind of peace and the certain knowledge that mysterious forces move the universe.