10 h 31 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 31 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In the Canadian North, keeping your word can demand as much strength as surviving the wilderness.
In The Long Portage, Harold Bindloss takes you into northern country where distance, weather and hard labour shape the journey. Lakes, rivers and forests offer more than a backdrop. They test ordinary people, making each stretch of trail a measure of endurance and each practical task part of the struggle to succeed.
The pressure is moral as well as physical. Men face a choice between easy gain and plain duty, while promises and trust carry real weight. Bindloss explores honour, hardship and the chance to begin again through direct storytelling. The pleasure lies in following the journey and watching what difficult country asks of a person.
What you’ll discover
- A demanding northern world Enter a country of lakes, rivers, forests and long winters that puts human endurance to the test.
- Honour put to work Follow the tension between keeping a trust and reaching for an easier reward.
- The pull of redemption Explore the hope that hard country can offer a chance to change.
- Adventure in practical detail Find canoes, trails, camps and trading posts woven into the demands of the journey.
- Clear, steady storytelling Enjoy a direct style that keeps attention on the journey and the choices along it.
Who will love it
Readers who love wilderness adventure, canoe and trail detail, and a steadily unfolding moral puzzle. It also suits anyone drawn to Edwardian country life, quiet romance, and the clash between rough Canadian directness and English reserve.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A fisherman with a debt to pay
- The divide tests the travellers
- The first cache gives its answer
- The second cache and the missing pages
- England and the people of the Border
- Lisle learns the neighbourhood
- Gladwyne under pressure
- Two countries and a hard choice
- What the book is really about, and how it is told
Who’s who
- Vernon LisleA Canadian prospector and mine owner who wants to clear the name of the guide who managed his family's ranch and helped pay for his schooling.
- NasmythAn English sportsman who loved George Gladwyne and promises to witness Lisle's search, though he fears what it will uncover.
- Clarence GladwyneThe handsome survivor of the failed expedition, who has inherited the family estate and fears what might come to light.
- Millicent GladwyneGeorge's calm, gifted sister, who draws wild animals for his unfinished book and trusts her cousin more than she should.
- Bella CrestwickA bold, witty heiress who is devoted to her reckless brother and sees through the people around her.
- Jim CrestwickBella's young brother, easily led into bets and loans, who finds a better self in the northern wilderness.
- BatleyA smooth, shrewd lender who holds Clarence in his debt and wants his money back.
- Mrs. GladwyneClarence's gentle, slightly deaf mother, who sees only the best in her son and wishes him to marry Millicent.
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 31 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Long Portage
by Harold Bindloss · 1912
Lisle follows a dead guide's trail through the Canadian North to prove one cache is untouched.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Long Portage is an adventure novel by Harold Bindloss, set between the wilderness of British Columbia and the moors of the English Border country. It opens with Vernon Lisle, a Canadian prospector turned mine owner, fishing for his supper beside a thundering rapid.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A fisherman with a debt to pay
Vernon Lisle stands knee-deep in an icy British Columbia river, casting for trout because food is running short. He wears torn boots and a ragged deerskin jacket, and he has the lean, watchful look of a man shaped by the North. With him are Nasmyth, an English sportsman, and Jake, a taciturn packer. They travel by dugout canoe and must carry their loads around a roaring rapid.
The camp talk is where the book sets its question. Lisle is near the route of the Gladwyne expedition, a party of four that went into the wilderness a year earlier and came out as a tragedy. Nasmyth tells the story as Clarence Gladwyne, the survivor, told it in England. George Gladwyne, injured and starving, sent the others on to find help. Clarence reached a hunters' camp and returned to find his cousin dead.
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What is The Long Portage about?
It follows Canadian prospector Vernon Lisle as he retraces a failed wilderness expedition to clear his dead friend's name, then travels to England to face the survivor. It combines canoe travel, a moral mystery and a quiet love story.
Who is Vernon in The Long Portage?
Vernon is the name of the dead guide who was blamed for deserting his master, and also Lisle's first name. Lisle was named after the guide's father, a neighbour who helped his own father settle in British Columbia.
What is the long portage in the title?
It is the arduous carry over the divide that Lisle, Nasmyth and Jake make with their canoe, following the earlier party's trail. It also stands for the long, patient effort of carrying a heavy duty to its end.
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