{"product_id":"beasts-of-the-sea-9780316585835","title":"Beasts of the Sea","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Turpeinen matches the heights of Andrea Barrett\" in this sweeping and intimate tale about a fateful encounter between man and nature spanning three centuries and linked by a long-extinct denizen of the northern oceans (Publishers Weekly starred review).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 1741, thirty-two-year-old naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller joins Captain Bering's Great Northern Expedition to scout out a sea route from Asia to America. Plagued with hardships, captain and crew never reach their goal, but they do make a unique discovery, a gentle giant that will be named for the young explorer who described it: Steller's sea cow. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 1859, the governor of the Russian territory of Alaska sends his men to recover the skeleton of the massive marine mammal rumored to have vanished a hundred years before. Two years later, a revered Helsinki professor hires a talented illustrator--a woman!--to make precise drawings of a set of bones sent from afar. The ill-fated beast will help introduce to a skeptical public the concept of human-caused extinction. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Finally, in 1952, the Museum of Zoology assigns its most talented restorer the task of refurbishing the antique skeleton, a testimony to the sea cow's fate that will fire the imaginations of future generations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA \u003c\/i\u003ebreathtaking literary achievement and an adventure that crosses continents and centuries, \u003ci\u003eBeasts of the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e is a tale of grand ambition, the quest for knowledge, and the urge to resurrect what humankind has, in its ignorance, destroyed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIida Turpeinen \u003c\/b\u003eis a literary scholar writing a dissertation on the intersection of the natural sciences and literature. \u003ci\u003eBeasts of the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e was published in Finland to wide acclaim, won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for best debut novel, and has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Turpeinen lives in Helsinki, Finland.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Little Brown and Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51721023226130,"sku":"9780316585835","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_95e91c54-bf68-44d4-85fa-1c2295e6b03d.jpg?v=1762947084","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/beasts-of-the-sea-9780316585835","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}