Ascent

Ascent

by JedMercurio (Author)

Synopsis

Yefgenii Yeremin is a flyer and he is a phantom. In the Korean War, he shoots down more American jets than any other pilot in history. He becomes the legendary ace dubbed 'Ivan the Terrible'. But the Soviet Union's involvement in Korea must be kept secret, so his name remains unknown, his victories uncelebrated. Exiled to a remote Arctic base, he becomes a spectator to the new battlefield of Cold War rivalry: space. Yefgenii longs to do battle once more with America's finest aviators, but he remains invisible, forgotten ...until the day in 1964, when a man arrives from Moscow, from the Space Committee, in search of a volunteer. Five years later, Yefgenii Yeremin sets off on the greatest mission of all, in a ship named Voskhodyeniye. His destination is the Moon. "Ascent" is the story of how a single act can not only define the meaning of a man's life, but also that of a nation and a species. It is a story of power, beauty and ultimately grace, and it is like no novel you have ever read before.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Published: 08 Mar 2007

ISBN 10: 0224072862
ISBN 13: 9780224072861
Book Overview: A truly stunning novel - spare, powerful and ultimately awesome - Ascent will propel Jed Mercurio into the first rank of British novelists.

Media Reviews
This is fighting fit, muscular prose, which carries no dead weight. In short, it's that rarest of things -- a highbrow book that's vertiginously thrilling. - Observer Ascent is storytelling of a high caliber; fully imagined, finely crafted. - Guardian From the Trade Paperback edition.
Author Bio
Jed Mercurio's first novel Bodies was chosen as one of the five best debuts of 2002 by the Guardian. His adaptation of Bodies won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series of 2005. While at Medical School, Jed Mercurio received extensive flying training in the Royal Air Force, with the aim of becoming a physician-pilot. He resigned his commission in 1992 and, after beginning a career as a hospital doctor, he became a full-time writer in 1994.