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| VOLAPÜK |
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| ELEPHANTINA |
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fed on the sorry left-overs of
Fact
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Fiction fed on the sorry left-overs of Fact |
Polygon 2004. ISBN: 1904598099 |
The full title
An Abridged History With a Foreword by Alured Marjoribanks. | |
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On my first live radio interview for BBC Radio Scotland, the very first thing I was asked was 'what is the full title of the book?' Since I had not thought to bring a copy into the studio (and my interviewer did not know this, she being in Glasgow, me in Edinburgh), there was a very long pause indeed... Both interviewee and interviewer were rather twitchy after that.
An interview with NewBooksMag click here to read it...
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What's it about?
It is August 1893 and the eternally optimistic railway engineer, Alexander Auchmuty Seth Kininmonth, is beginning work on the construction of what will surely turn out to be Scotland's greatest-ever railway, a magnificent line between Garve and Lochinver. Knowing that such an achievement will transform the economy of that lonely, empty corner of Scotland, Kininmonth awaits the inevitable glory, riches and personal comfort this undertaking will undoubtedly bring him. But all does not go according to plan. Wild Scottish weather, midges and financial incompetence all conspire against him and his dreams slowly fade; a chance encounter with two survivors of a community abandoned on a sub-Antarctic island brings about an extraordinary sequence of events, which necessitate a rapid escape by all three to the remote island of Jura. Struggling to keep his hopes for the railway alive, Kininmonth is caught up in the revolutionary events in Ullapool of 1897, where a "Citadel of the Elect" has been founded by a millennarian preacher. Historical events - factual or fictional - threaten to overwhelm his schemes, but Kininmonth refuses to accept defeat, always believing, as the worst of scenarios persistently unfold before him, that social justice and sound engineering principles will triumph. | |
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| There was a French web-site, providing information on resources of a scientific, technical, engineering or business nature, which, until very recently, listed this book. Clearly, not as fiction. I was rather disappointed when the French finally tumbled to the deceit... |
Reviews
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| This book was short-listed - along with four others - for the 2004 Saltire Prize for First Book of the Year. | EXTRACT | |
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