JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Billie Fulford-Brown's light, musical voice carries listeners through this story of love, obligations, and dreams. In Segwick's debut, the narrative jumps around in time and between stories, but listeners never feel lost. In one part, Irish astrophysicist Róisín runs towards and away from her small-town childhood and intense attachment to her cousin, Liam. In another part, Chef François has wanderlust while still remaining close to his mother, Severine, a woman who can communicate with ghosts. Fulford-Brown's expressive voice conveys a plethora of emotions in pitch-perfect French, Irish, and English accents. Although this is a fantastical tale with love and ghosts, there's also science and rational thought. Fulford-Brown gives them all equal weight. G.D. Winner of AudioFIle Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
The New York Times - Carmela Ciuraru
…[an] exquisitely layered, thrilling novel, which leaps across centuries and continents to delve into the role of destiny and the elusiveness of perception and memory. These characters are as awe-struck by the intimate moments of everyday life…as they are by the vast night sky. A less gifted writer might have made this material too whimsical or sentimental. Ms. Sedgwick wisely takes a laconic approach to the supernatural and a romantic approach to the scientific.
Publishers Weekly
★ 08/29/2016
Former research physicist Sedgwick mines the mysteries of the solar system and human desire to craft a haunting and wonderfully ethereal debut novel about first loves, inescapable loss, and the search for one’s place in a complicated world. When Róisín, an Irish scientist studying comets, and François, a French chef, reunite at a research base in the frigid wilds of Antarctica in 2017, the two seem virtually broken because of their respective pasts. Róisín, who followed her intergalactic studies from Ireland and France to Hawaii and New York over the course of decades, spent just as many years trying to make sense of and move beyond an illicit relationship with her cousin Liam. François arrived at the base with his own baggage: Severine, his dying mother, had insisted throughout her life that the ghosts of her ancestors are real. Sedgwick tackles a centuries-spanning interconnected narrative by placing each chapter within the context of a comet’s appearance in the sky. The sections that chronicle Severine’s conversations with her dearly departed are marked by their magical realism, but those that explore Róisín and Liam’s star-crossed romance are the standouts, both quietly moving and delicately portrayed. Uniquely structured and stylistically fascinating, the multilayered story comes full circle in a denouement that is both heartbreaking and satisfying. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
A gorgeous novel that should resonate with fans of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife…A breath-taking tale of love, loss and heartbreak. You’ll be utterly captivated from the first page.” — Elle (Book of the Month)
“An exquisitely layered, thrilling novel, which leaps across centuries and continents to delve into the role of destiny and the elusiveness of perception and memory.” — Carmela Ciuraru, New York Times
“A haunting and wonderfully ethereal debut novel about first loves, inescapable loss, and the search for one’s place in a complicated world . . . Uniquely structured and stylistically fascinating, the multilayered story comes full circle in a denouement that is both heartbreaking and satisfying.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Haunting and beautiful, THE COMET SEEKERS follows a constellation of lives from modern Antarctica to medieval England, all of them connected by an extraordinary mystery hidden deep in the past. A captivating story, deftly told, about those who are driven to explore, and those who must stay behind.” — Helene Wecker, New York Times bestselling author of THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI
“A fluid narrative voice, pointedly lyrical and without a trace of irony, gives equal weight to the perceptions of both ghosts and living characters. And, as in the work of contemporary fabulists like Kelly Link, Helen Oyeyemi and Audrey Niffenegger, the real intersects matter-of-factly with the supernatural…A different spin to the idea of a love that’s meant to be.” — Andrea Barrett, New York Times Book Review
“A stellar love story that echoes down decades and centuries.” — Glamour
“Readers will be enveloped in the magical world that Sedgwick creates and will grapple with the big issues she tackles-love, family, freedom, and loneliness. Those drawn to intimate stories of family drama are sure to respond to this beautiful, character-driven novel, which is reminiscent of the work of Amy Bloom and Elizabeth Strout.” — Booklist
“Sedgwick weaves science and the imagination into a melancholy yet magical tale…Readers would do well to suspend disbelief and open their hearts to the romance, the lush prose, and the mystery of Sedgwick’s original and inventive debut.” — Library Journal
“In her ambitious . . . debut novel, journalist, editor, and former research physicist Sedgwick leaps through time, from 1066 to the present, following the trajectories of her characters’ lives as various comets surge gloriously through the night skies.” — Kirkus
“Helen Sedgwick has written a first novel of remarkable grace, beauty and insight, in which a careful love of language meets an immense storytelling talent. I was moved and inspired by this book.” — Joseph O'Connor, author of STAR OF THE SEA
“THE COMET SEEKERS is a brave and tender debut from one of the brightest new stars of the literary world. It’s one of the most vivid, original and magical books I’ve read in years.” — Kirsty Logan, author of THE GRACEKEEPERS
“Inspired by the mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry, a work of art nearly a millennium old, THE COMET SEEKERS weaves an exquisite tale of love and fate, impermanence and infinity, the pull of the sky and the bonds of earth. Helen Sedgwick charts the paths of the cosmos and the human heart with unnerving intelligence and grace. This is a novel about the universe, yes, but also about spaces small and secret-the homes we make for ourselves: how we build them, why we leave, and what it means to stay. A luminous debut.” — Leslie Parry, author of CHURCH OF MARVELS
Glamour
A stellar love story that echoes down decades and centuries.
Andrea Barrett
A fluid narrative voice, pointedly lyrical and without a trace of irony, gives equal weight to the perceptions of both ghosts and living characters. And, as in the work of contemporary fabulists like Kelly Link, Helen Oyeyemi and Audrey Niffenegger, the real intersects matter-of-factly with the supernatural…A different spin to the idea of a love that’s meant to be.
Elle (Book of the Month)
A gorgeous novel that should resonate with fans of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife…A breath-taking tale of love, loss and heartbreak. You’ll be utterly captivated from the first page.
Joseph O'Connor
Helen Sedgwick has written a first novel of remarkable grace, beauty and insight, in which a careful love of language meets an immense storytelling talent. I was moved and inspired by this book.
Carmela Ciuraru
An exquisitely layered, thrilling novel, which leaps across centuries and continents to delve into the role of destiny and the elusiveness of perception and memory.
Helene Wecker
Haunting and beautiful, THE COMET SEEKERS follows a constellation of lives from modern Antarctica to medieval England, all of them connected by an extraordinary mystery hidden deep in the past. A captivating story, deftly told, about those who are driven to explore, and those who must stay behind.
Booklist
Readers will be enveloped in the magical world that Sedgwick creates and will grapple with the big issues she tackles-love, family, freedom, and loneliness. Those drawn to intimate stories of family drama are sure to respond to this beautiful, character-driven novel, which is reminiscent of the work of Amy Bloom and Elizabeth Strout.
Leslie Parry
Inspired by the mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry, a work of art nearly a millennium old, THE COMET SEEKERS weaves an exquisite tale of love and fate, impermanence and infinity, the pull of the sky and the bonds of earth. Helen Sedgwick charts the paths of the cosmos and the human heart with unnerving intelligence and grace. This is a novel about the universe, yes, but also about spaces small and secret-the homes we make for ourselves: how we build them, why we leave, and what it means to stay. A luminous debut.
Kirsty Logan
THE COMET SEEKERS is a brave and tender debut from one of the brightest new stars of the literary world. It’s one of the most vivid, original and magical books I’ve read in years.
New York Times Book Review
[An] exquisitely layered, thrilling novel, which leaps across centuries and continents to delve into the role of destiny and the elusiveness of perception and memory.
Irish Times
Sedgwick is a highly evocative writer.
Booklist
Readers will be enveloped in the magical world that Sedgwick creates and will grapple with the big issues she tackles-love, family, freedom, and loneliness. Those drawn to intimate stories of family drama are sure to respond to this beautiful, character-driven novel, which is reminiscent of the work of Amy Bloom and Elizabeth Strout.
Library Journal
05/01/2016
Irish astronomer Róisín comes to Antarctica to watch for a disintegrating comet, worldwide travel being something she embraces. Base-camp chef François has just left Bayeux, France, for the second time in his life. Both are ducking tragedy, and they launch a passionate affair, unaware that their bond magically goes back centuries. Sedgwick has won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award; with a 50,000-copy first printing.
JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Billie Fulford-Brown's light, musical voice carries listeners through this story of love, obligations, and dreams. In Segwick's debut, the narrative jumps around in time and between stories, but listeners never feel lost. In one part, Irish astrophysicist Róisín runs towards and away from her small-town childhood and intense attachment to her cousin, Liam. In another part, Chef François has wanderlust while still remaining close to his mother, Severine, a woman who can communicate with ghosts. Fulford-Brown's expressive voice conveys a plethora of emotions in pitch-perfect French, Irish, and English accents. Although this is a fantastical tale with love and ghosts, there's also science and rational thought. Fulford-Brown gives them all equal weight. G.D. Winner of AudioFIle Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-07-19
Haunted characters struggle to find fulfillment.In her ambitious but flawed debut novel, journalist, editor, and former research physicist Sedgwick leaps through time, from 1066 to the present, following the trajectories of her characters’ lives as various comets surge gloriously through the night skies. She focuses on four main characters: cousins Róisín and Liam are star-crossed lovers both because of their consanguinity and their unbridgeable differences. Róisín, an astronomer, wants to travel the world researching the cosmos; Liam is committed to staying on his family’s farm. The second pair is a mother and son, Severine and François. Even as a child, François longed to explore far-off places, from South American jungles to Antarctica’s “wild emptiness”; but Severine will not leave their native Bayeux, France, because she is surrounded there by 11 ghosts from her family’s long past. These ghosts are the novel’s liveliest characters: playful, teasing, and so comforting that Severine cannot live without them; they are more crucial to her than François. “Why should she have to choose,” she asks herself, “between her ghosts and her son?” Among the ghosts, Severine is especially attached to her grandmother, “who everyone thought was crazy, who made the world come alive, whose smile made Severine feel special, and loved.” Because Granny’s ghost treats her like a child, Severine seems infantilized—or, maybe, crazy. François can hardly make sense of his strange mother. Rather than allowing her characters to evolve, Sedgwick belabors their predicaments in chapter after chapter. The image of shooting stars suggests a theme: as Róisín explains, “All those stars we see...they’re dead already. They have exploded, rejected everything that they were, and the raw components, the elements they were made of, that is where life comes from.” But this idea of transformation is only barely hinted at, and, except for Severine, the characters persist in sadness.Unlike shooting stars, Sedgwick’s yearning protagonists seem unable or unwilling to “shower the world with light.
