trade-size paperback.

from the back cover:
The Booker Prize-winning author of Oscar and Lucinda returns to the nineteenth century in an utterly captivating mystery. The year is 1837 and a stranger is prowling London. He is Jack Maggs, an illegal returnee from the prison island of Australia. He has the demeanor of a savage and the skills of a hardened criminal, and he is risking his life on seeking vengeance and reconciliation. Installing himself within the household of the genteel grocer Percy Buckle, Maggs soon attracts the attention of a cross section of London society. Saucy Mercy Larkin wants him for a mate. The writer Tobias Oates wants to possess his soul through hypnosis. But Maggs is obsessed with a plan of his own. And as all the various schemes converge, Maggs rises into the center, a dark looming figure, at once frightening, mysterious, and compelling.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Added to jsmeltser's 1001 Books to Read bookbox.

Taken from my 1001 bookbox. This one looks really interesting and I'm anxious to read it. Thanks, waterfalling!

I knew Peter Carey was coming to Houston in January, so I hoped to read this one before his visit. It will not happen. Perhaps I can read it before his next visit.

Off to a new reader!