A fictionalised voyage into the age of Enlightenment exploration

Landfalls is the debut novel by American author Naomi J. Williams, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It reimagines the real 1785 French scientific expedition led by the Comte de La Perouse, which set out to circle the globe in the name of discovery and national prestige.

Told through a series of shifting viewpoints, the story moves between the expedition's crew and the people whose lives it touches along the way, from London and Tenerife to Alaska, the Pacific and Siberia, and the families left waiting at home. It weighs the romance of exploration against its human cost, capturing both the ambition and the fragility of the era.

Recommended for readers drawn to literary historical fiction with a maritime and exploration theme, particularly those who enjoy multi-perspective storytelling grounded in real events.

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