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A Pacific cruise from Tahiti to New Zealand aboard the Ardent Spirit brings together six people whose characters will only slowly emerge before a climactic storm scene near the end. Alec and Elspeth, both Scottish, as is Candia McWilliam, alternate in narration, each veering between current events and memory to reveal further layers of detail beneath the surface. A central image of a stuffed tortoise cut in half lengthwise by the taxidermist to serve as an instructional aid evokes the author's purpose. For her idiosyncratic and fresh use of language here, McWilliam won the 1994 Guardian Fiction Prize.
