I have spent too much time lately thinking about the network of fibre-optic cables that encircles the world. That鈥檚 because these fibres are the subject of my new piece (see 鈥淗ow buried cables are revealing Earth鈥檚 interior in incredible detail鈥�), which explores how geoscientists are using them to map Earth鈥檚 interior. Naturally, when I learned that Colum McCann鈥檚 novel is about this very network, I had to read it.
The novel follows a journalist on assignment to write about what happens when the cables that carry the internet under the ocean break. He boards a ship sailing to fix a cable off the coast of West Africa. All the while, he struggles to understand the mission鈥檚 leader, Conway, a taciturn freediver from Ireland with plenty of 鈥渕issing years鈥�.
The plot is juicy and the writing lucid. But I most appreciated how McCann expertly transforms a horribly technical subject into a tale full of love and connection. 鈥淓verything gets fixed,鈥� says Conway. 鈥淎nd we all stay broken.鈥�
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