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I’m so glad you enjoyed it, I have yet to read it but it was recommended to me by someone who’s taste I trust and every person so far that I’ve recommended it to has loved it. It’s been kept off the top of my ‘to-read’ pile by other things I’ve been obliged to read so it’s a pleasure waiting for me.
He is Jonathan Moore, author of 6 other novels, but before you read his other books you might want to consider his advice to aspiring writers that I came across in an interview, he said:
‘Unless you’ve been diagnosed with a terminal illness, there’s no rush. Slow down a bit, read, re-read, and revise, and then start submitting to agents or publishers. Otherwise you might publish six books and then have to change your name.’A very warm welcome to you Barbara!!
I very much hope you’ll enjoy both books, but obviously Isle and Empires is very close to our hearts and something we’re incredibly proud of.
We look forward to hearing more from you.
All the best
PaulA very warm welcome to you Barbara!!
I very much hope you’ll enjoy both books, but obviously Isle and Empires is very close to our hearts and something we’re incredibly proud of.
We look forward to hearing more from you.
All the best
PaulHello all,
First, I’m very happy that Paul chose this book to start us off. If it’s correct that reading is a form of escapism, it is also right to say that reading allows us to step into the shoes of others and see life from new perspectives. And getting a glimpse of the world through the eyes of an embalmer is not one I’d previously imagined. This, then, is an element of the book that I would like to canvas opinion on. (For me, it was certainly eye-opening.)
As for what Paul has written above, I must say I heartily agree with his comment about young William’s ‘self-awareness’. I would go as far to say that the author is projecting her (and society’s) own, presentist preoccupations back onto a group of very young characters who are very unlikely to have had anything like such deep thoughts on particularly weighty issues like homosexuality. Indeed, the level of the boys’ comprehension in a number of situations seems unrealistic to me. Or maybe its just a (very telling) reflection on my own immaturity when I was a adolescent?
I have more to say, but will wait to see what others think before writing again.
James
I thought this might be of interest:
A Letter from Jo Browning Wroe
Dear Readers,In hindsight, living the first twelve years of my life in the grounds of a crematorium, with hearses rolling past our kitchen window every twenty minutes, I may have been more naturally inclined than others to get up close and personal to the world of embalming. Just as my sister and I knew to jump
over, not on, the blue-grey scattered ashes, these softly spoken men in long black coats were part of life. I saw and understood, long before I could articulate it, that their role was to alleviate distress and that they did this with respect, gentleness and a sense of duty.
‘I saw and understood, long before I could articulate it, that their role was to alleviate distress and that they did this with respect, gentleness and a sense of duty.’
Decades later, when I came across an account of the embalmers’ role in the aftermath of the Aberfan disaster, I had an immediate, emotional response to want to tell their story. The issue was never whether there was a story to be told, but whether I could tell it well enough, whilst also respecting the people of Aberfan.Inevitably this is a book with moments of extreme sadness, a state of being we’ve all become more attuned to of late, I think.
‘Ultimately this is, I hope, a story about family – those we’re born with and those we make – and the extraordinary power of love and friendship to restore and sustain us.’
Yet because as a child I experienced the funeral business as palpably kind, suffused with keen senses of humour, I very much hope these qualities also flavour the story. Ultimately this is, I hope, a story about family – those we’re born with and those we make – and the extraordinary power of love and friendship to restore and sustain us.
Jo Browning WroeI’ll kick things off. I really was pulled through this book at great speed. A wonderful plot full of exceedingly well drawn characters. I found tears running down my face on a number of occasions, most notably the last few pages.
Topics for discussion:
I felt that the young William Lavery had a self-awareness far beyond his years which stretched my credulity a bit too far, what do others think?
I’m not sure the plot benefitted from jumping about from past to present, it felt like a device that was used for the sake of it, would a linear narrative have been as effective?
