Murray Lee

Compass

"In Murray Lee’s engrossing novel Compass, a travel writer with an encyclopedic knowledge of previous polar expeditions sets out on his own trip to the Arctic. Both a gripping tale about an explorer’s bravado and a witty satirization of the expedition stories that fascinate armchair adventurers, Compass is a novel that follows an outsider to the edge of the world—and to the edge of his sanity.”
- Foreword Reviews Magazine

• Read Chapter One

“A powerful and visceral exploration of one man’s journey to the physical and psychological edge. Compass fuses the solitary struggle of The Martian, the magical realism of Life of Pi, and the twisted psychology of Heart of Darkness, layered on a stark northern landscape.
-Arun Lakra

“Stunningly good writing, an effortless flow of language, word choices of startling precision and beauty…a highly literate, intelligent novel and a riveting story.”
-Sharon Butala

“A darkly comedic tale, superbly told, Compass is a tour-de-force debut from an author whose name we should all remember. This is storytelling at its finest, featuring shape-shifting Arctic landscapes, a wryly laconic Inuit guide, an undersea sorceress and a disturbing finale. I read it wrapped in warm blankets, both grateful and envious at not having to face the same travails as the novel's hapless narrator."
- Will Ferguson

Where to find Compass

Compass was published by Publerati (a really amazing small, independent publisher) on September 27, 2022.You can order the book online, but how about supporting an independent bookstore? If it isn't already in your local bookstore, you can ask them to order it for you.Kindle/Kobo/ePub versions are also available through the usual sources: Apple, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Chapters Indigo, etc.

About Murray

I am a writer, doctor and teacher of medicine. Throughout my career, I have split my time between North and South — practicing as a fly-in physician for isolated communities in the Canadian Arctic and working with actors, clinicians and students while running the Communication Skills program at the University of Calgary medical school. For over eighteen years I served as the regular visiting doctor to Naujaat, Nunavut, a traditional Inuit community on the Arctic Circle, whose people, culture and geography greatly inform the setting and character of Compass. For me, medicine at its core is an exploration of story and a study of character. I have spent most of my life sucking up stories. Writing is the creative expression that lets them all back out.

Contact

_{Sea lion photo by Elianne Dipp via Pexels
Compass cover artwork: Ningiukulu Teevee, Glittering Walrus, 2019. Reproduced with the permission of Dorset Fine Arts
All other images copyright Murray Lee, 2021}