Much has been written elsewhere about the Man Booker books, so I thought I'd drop the 'Booker' and talk about one or two (Isle of ) Man books, or ones with Manx connections. Curiousities they may be, but worth a short hop across the Irish Sea.
On the far right there is Ethel Harper's "Paths of the Sea", an adventure story and romance set in the wake of the mutiny on the Bounty. It's author lived on the island and set the book in part there, and it was published in sight of the church where the Bounty's Captain Bligh married.
A book which I haven't yet read but shall be adding to the pile is "The School on North Barrule" by Mabel Esther Allan. Its main characters have lovely Manx names - Voirrey and Andreas, and I'm hoping for lots of local references to remind me of a lovely place.
This ivy-clad pile is Greeba Castle, home to Sir Hall Caine the novelist and playwright (1853-1931) whose many works included "The Christian" and "The Deemster". Few people nowadays will have heard of him at all, but he was reputedly the highest paid novelist of his day, hence the grand house, and he made much of his Manx heritage.
Another writer who took up residence in Mann on the back of his success was Richard Adams, who chose to live there for some years after the phenomenal sales of "Watership Down", and wrote several good things while in seaside seclusion.
But I've saved the best for last. Matthew Kneale went to the island (from where his father, Nigel Kneale of "Quatermass" fame hails) and studied the local speech rhythms and patterns, or such as survive in relatively pure form today. He used this research to create the perfect Manx seaman, Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley, who with his hapless crew find themselves transporting a load of Englishmen to Tasmania in search of the Garden of Eden. His story is told in twenty distinct voices, and despite a vast theme, he handles the whole book perfectly. If you have yet to read it, do so without delay, and never utter the word 'pig' when at sea on a Manx ship......
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