Category: Walter Scott Prize

Throwback Thursday: Grace by Paul Lynch

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ThrowbackThursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme created by Renee at It’s Book Talk.  It’s designed as an opportunity to share old favourites as well as books that we’ve finally got around to reading that were published over a year ago.

Today I’m reviewing a book that was on the shortlist for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2018 – Grace by Paul Lynch.   I had intended to read all of the shortlisted books before the winner was announced at the Borders Book Festival in June but I fell two short – this book, and Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach, which I still have to read.

Grace was published in hardback, ebook and audiobook on 11th July 2017 and is now also in paperback.  You can find purchase links below.

GraceAbout the Book

Early one October morning, Grace’s mother snatches her from sleep and brutally cuts off her hair, declaring, ‘You are the strong one now.’ With winter close at hand and Ireland already suffering, Grace is no longer safe at home. And so her mother outfits her in men’s clothing and casts her out. When her younger brother Colly follows after her, the two set off on a remarkable journey in the looming shadow of their country’s darkest hour.

The broken land they pass through reveals untold suffering as well as unexpected beauty. To survive, Grace must become a boy, a bandit, a penitent and, finally, a woman – all the while afflicted by inner voices that arise out of what she has seen and what she has lost.

Format: Hardcover, ebook, paperback (368 pp.)  Publisher: Oneworld Publications Published: 11th July 2017                                           Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  | Hive.co.uk (supporting local UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Grace on Goodreads

My Review

It has taken me quite a few weeks to finish Grace and I’ll admit I did struggle with it at times, finding myself skimming the last few chapters.  There always seemed to be another book that was more demanding of my attention or more in tune with my reading mood.  However, I have now finished it and the book is certainly notable for its lyrical, poetic language, imaginative metaphors and at times impressionistic style (most clearly illustrated in the chapter entitled ‘Crow’ which approaches stream of consciousness).

Some examples of the book’s striking descriptive language:
‘The rain comes yoked to a hooded sun, unfastens and falls like a cloak.’
‘Hedgerows huddle along the road and mutter the breeze like watchers.’
‘Rain suddens heavy and tuneful, makes all the earth sing a blind song of itself.’

And this arresting metaphor, as Grace desperately seeks shelter at cottages she passes on the road:
‘Every ear listening for the sound of coughing, for sickness tramps through the snow and leaves footprints and when it knocks at your door it wants to come in, lean over the fire, take a sup of your soup, lie down on the straw, spread itself out, and bring everybody else into its company.’

The book depicts in harrowing detail the intense suffering of the Irish people during what came to be known as the ‘Great Hunger’ or ‘Great Famine’ between 1845 and 1849 when the potato crop failed in successive years.  Each day became a struggle for food, warmth and shelter and people were forced to steal, beg or worse to find sustenance.  Through Grace’s eyes the reader witnesses the dreadful scenes of starvation, disease and death and the appalling contrast between the rich unaffected by food shortages and the poor of the towns or countryside reduced to destitution.

Grace’s brother, Colly, becomes her ever-present conscience, guiding her thoughts and actions with, at times, remarkable insight and always with impish, black humour.   Grace is a story of courage, despair, suffering, cruelty and resilience.  Towards the end of the book, a seemingly miraculous and life changing act of mercy turns out to mask something baser.  However, the concluding pages of the book suggest there may be hope of something better.

For me, Grace was definitely a book to admire rather than to love.   However, I’m aware that there are many readers who have both admired and loved it.  It certainly merits its Goodreads description as ‘an epic coming-of-age novel and a poetic evocation of the Irish famine as it has never been written.’  Furthermore, I can definitely understand how its lyrical language and the nature of the events it depicts would have attracted the admiration of the judges of The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.  However, I’ll confess that it is my least favourite of all the shortlisted books I’ve read.

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In three words: Lyrical, harrowing, immersive

Try something similar…The Good People by Hannah Kent (read my review here)

About the Author

Paul Lynch is the prizewinning Irish author of two previous novels, Red Sky in Morning and The Black Snow.   Red Sky in Morning was a finalist for France’s Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (Best Foreign Book Prize).  The Black Snow won the French booksellers’ prize, Prix Libr’a Nous, for Best Foreign Novel.  He lives in Dublin with this wife and daughter.

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Book Review: Sugar Money by Jane Harris

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WaltScott_Sugar MoneyAbout the Book

Martinique, 1765, and brothers, Emile and Lucien, are charged by their French master, Father Cléophas, with a mission. They must return to Grenada, the island they once called home, and smuggle back the 42 slaves claimed by English invaders at the hospital plantation in Fort Royal. While Lucien, barely in his teens, sees the trip as a great adventure, the older and worldlier Emile has no illusions about the dangers they will face. But with no choice other than to obey Cléophas – and sensing the possibility, however remote, of finding his first love Celeste – he sets out with his brother on this ‘reckless venture’.

Format: Hardcover, ebook (320 pp.)    Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 5th October 2017                  Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Sugar Money on Goodreads

My Review

There were a number of things that attracted me to Sugar Money.  Firstly, it’s one of the six books shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2018 – always an excellent hallmark for quality historical fiction – and I’m attempting to read all the shortlisted books before the winner is announced on 16th June.  (Eek, time running out and only 4 of the 6 read so far.)  Secondly, the book’s setting on the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Grenada.  I’ve been lucky enough to visit both those islands – admittedly only for a day as part of a cruise itinerary – but I remember loving Grenada, particularly the colourful market in the capital, St George’s, (referred to by its previous name Fort Royal in the book) with the smell of spices in the air.  In fact, I’m still using the nutmeg and mace I bought there.  Thirdly, I read Jane Harris’s first book, The Observations, some time ago but remember being captivated by its quirky narrator, Bessy.

Jane Harris repeats that feat in Sugar Money. The narrator, Lucien, engages the reader from the start with his distinctive mode of speech that is a mixture of English, Creole, French and his own individual way of describing people, places, events and his own feelings.  For example, after taking perhaps slightly too much rum: ‘Indeed, after several further swig, I came over all misty inside and considered myself to be quite invincible.’ I think many of us may have experienced the feeling of being ‘all misty inside’ after a touch too much to drink.  There’s some lovely humour as well.  During the voyage to Grenada in the rather dilapidated vessel owned by the strange Captain Bianco, Lucien observes a shooting star.  ‘Magical sight.  Perhaps it were a good omen.  For a brief instant, I allowed myself to feel encouraged.  But as the star died, trailing silver embers, old Bianco let flee a fart, startling as a blast of musketry, and the precious moment was ruined.’  I laughed out loud at that.

I also really liked the touching relationship between Lucien and Emile.  Lucien looks up to his older brother but at the same time he is an acute observer of his moods and innermost thoughts.  There might be a good deal of disputation and quarrelling but underneath there is loyalty and a real bond of love and affection. As he says, ‘I found myself too much in simple-hearted awe and adoration of my brother.’

In Sugar Money the author has taken what might be considered a footnote in Caribbean history and fashioned it into an adventure story crammed full of realistic detail.   The reader gets a detailed account of the preparations for the mission the two brothers have been given, including the process of convincing the slaves to take part and the discussion about how the escape will be managed.  I’ll confess there were times when I felt I was getting a little too much detail and the pace of the book slowed a bit but once the plan is under way the tension definitely builds again.

Behind the adventure story is a chilling depiction of the dreadful atrocities of slavery and the appalling life endured by the plantation slaves.  Worked to exhaustion, surviving on meagre food, subjected to the vilest and most cruel punishments, the women frequently the subject of sexual abuse, it is a life of misery and early death.   For the slaves of the hospital plantation in Grenada, what is on offer is the opportunity to escape the harsh conditions they are currently enduring in the hope of slightly less harsh conditions on Martinique.  The change of location does not offer them the prospect of freedom.  They will still be the possessions of someone else, put to work for the benefit of their owners with no say over their lives. In effect, they are being repossessed like objects.   Furthermore, there are dire consequences for the slaves should the plan be discovered.

Sugar Money is both a compelling adventure story and a powerful indictment of the cruelties of the slave trade.  I really did feel myself transported back to 18th century Grenada with its sights, sounds and smells conjured up brilliantly. In Lucien, the author has proved once again her remarkable ability to create a distinctive, original and engaging narrative voice.

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In three words: Atmospheric, immersive, adventure

Try something similar…The Observations by Jane Harris

Jane Harris (Photo credit: James Lipman)About the Author

Jane was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and spent her early childhood there before her parents moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1965. She studied English Literature and Drama at the University of Glasgow then trained at East 15 Acting School in London.

She started writing by accident while living in Portugal in the early Nineties. She says, “I had no TV, hardly any books, no money. And so, just to amuse myself, I started writing a short story. It was about an ex-boyfriend who happened to be a transvestite. I had such a great time writing that story that I immediately wrote another one, about another ex-boyfriend; all my early stories were about ex-boyfriends. I kept writing these stories and they were getting published in anthologies and magazines. By this time, I had moved back to Scotland, having decided that I wanted to be a writer.”

She studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, and then became writer-in-residence in Durham prison. It was there that she began her first novel, structured as a set of short stories. One of these short pieces was about a farmer-poet and a girl he acquires songs from. However, Harris says that as soon as she invented the voice of the girl, Bessy started taking over and she ended up ditching the farmer and focusing on Bessy and “Missus” – the woman who employs her as a maid.

The project ground to a halt at about 10,000 words when Harris started to write short scripts for her husband, film director Tom Shankland; two films, Going Down (2000) and Bait (1999), were nominated for Bafta awards. When she rediscovered her novel in a box in the attic in 2003 she says that she couldn’t believe she had abandoned Bessy. She sent the first 100 pages to publishers, and a bidding war took place between Faber, Fourth Estate and Hodder for UK rights. The Observations was published by Faber & Faber (UK) and Viking (USA) in hardcover in 2006.  It was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2007 and has been published in over 20 territories worldwide.  In the USA, The Observations won the Book of the Month Club’s First Fiction Prize and, in France, it was shortlisted for the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger.

In 2007 Jane was nominated for the British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year and for the Southbank Show/Times Breakthrough Award.  Her second novel, Gillespie and I, was shortlisted for Popular Fiction Book of the Year in the Galaxy National Book Awards in 2011.  Waterstones, the UK bookstore chain, selected Jane as one of its 25 Authors for the Future, and Richard and Judy chose The Observations as one of their 100 Books of the Decade.  Jane’s third novel, Sugar Money, was published by Faber and Faber in October 2017.

 

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