Knowledge Of Angels: Man Booker prize shortlist by Jill Paton Walsh (English) Pa

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The appearance of two outsiders on a Mediterranean island - one a castaway and atheist, the other a child suckled by wolves and knowing nothing of God - find themselves the subjects of a bizarre experiment.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

A beautiful, magical novel.It is, perhaps, the fifteenth century and the ordered tranquillity of a Mediterranean island is about to be shattered by the appearance of two outsiders- one, a castaway, plucked from the sea by fishermen, whose beliefs represent a challenge to the established order; the other, a child abandoned by her mother and suckled by wolves, who knows nothing of the precarious relationship between Church and State but whose innocence will become the subject of a dangerous experiment.But the arrival of the Inquisition on the island creates a darker, more threatening force which will transform what has been a philosophical game of chess into a matter of life and death...

Notes

New cover reissue of this Booker-shortlisted title.

Back Cover

It is, perhaps, the fifteenth century and the ordered tranquillity of a Mediterranean island is about to be shattered by the appearance of two outsiders: one, a castaway, plucked from the sea by fishermen, whose beliefs represent a challenge to the established order; the other, a child abandoned by her mother and suckled by wolves, who knows nothing of the precarious relationship between Church and State but whose innocence will become the subject of a dangerous experiment. But the arrival of the Inquisition on the island creates a darker, more threatening force which will transform what has been a philosophical game of chess into a matter of life and death...

Author Biography

Jill Paton Walsh was educated at St Michael's Convent, North Finchley, and at St Anne's College, Oxford. She is the author of several highly praised adult novels- Lapsing, A School For Lovers, Knowledge of Angels, which was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize, Goldengrove Unleaving, The Serpentine Cave and A Desert in Bohemia. She has also won many awards for her children's literature, including the Whitbread Prize, the Universe Prize and the Smarties Award. She has three children and lives in Cambridge.

Review

'A compelling medieval fable, written from the heart and melded to a driving narrative which never once loses its tremendous pace' * Guardian *'An irresistible blend of intellect and passion' * Mail on Sunday *'This remarkable novel resembles an illuminated manuscript mapped with angels and mountains and signposts, an allegory for today and yesterday too. A beautiful, unsettling moral fiction about virtue and intolerance' * Observer *'Remarkable...Utterly absorbing...richly detailed and finely imagined' * Sunday Telegraph *'The lucidity of Jill Paton Walsh's style and the dexerity of the narrative are such that her book reads more like a good thriller than a weighty novel of ideas...An ingenious fable' * The Times *

Promotional

A beautiful, magical novel.

Kirkus UK Review

On a remote medieval island, a crucial philosophical debate takes place between Palinor, a shipwrecked atheist, and inquisitors from the church which controls the island and seeks to destroy him. Palinor is a principled and highly educated engineer, whose personal brand of humanism begins to undermine the faith of the gentle monk who is trying to convert him to Christianity. Meanwhile, the Cardinal-Prince Severo aims to reprieve Palinor from death in a bizarre social experiment that hinges on the proven innocence or otherwise of the savage wolf girl captured by simple shepherds; and the lives of the atheist and the wolf child are secretly played off against each other. This brilliant and imaginative novel is related in language that is deceptively simple, belying the complex strands of religion and ideas that provide its underlying drama, and is also remarkable for the rich tapestry of medieval life that it portrays. (Kirkus UK)

Prizes

Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 1994

Review Text

'A compelling medieval fable, written from the heart and melded to a driving narrative which never once loses its tremendous pace'

Review Quote

'A compelling medieval fable, written from the heart and melded to a driving narrative which never once loses its tremendous pace'

Promotional "Headline"

A beautiful, magical novel.

Details ISBN0552997803 Author Jill Paton Walsh Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd ISBN-10 0552997803 ISBN-13 9780552997805 Format Paperback Imprint Black Swan Place of Publication London Country of Publication United Kingdom DEWEY 823.914 Birth 1937 Media Book Language English Pages 288 Subtitle Man Booker prize shortlist Year 1998 Publication Date 1998-01-02 AU Release Date 1998-01-02 NZ Release Date 1998-01-02 UK Release Date 1998-01-02 Alternative 9781446423042 Audience General We've got this

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