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ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Set in the 19th century, this unusual and beguiling novel tells of two brothers who grew up on a small island of the Azores. The community revolves around whaling, and the older brother Marcelinho, who is blessed with good looks and charm is also a natural seaman. The younger brother, clever and inquisitive Antonio, who was born with a shortened leg, is not expected to follow the family trade. But an aunt sends him a chest of books, and his true passion for learning and science is kindled, so that when the opportunity arises for him to join her in Lisbon, the family sends him there. He is sad to leave Marcelinho behind but sadder to leave his dearest friend, Margarida, who has ambitions for the stage. When he returns years later, she has not waited for him - and there starts the true story of his brother's life. As the tale unfolds, Marcelinho changes his identity and his home, washing up in Newfoundland and eventually Eden, carrying secrets and meeting others who hold their own pasts close… At times unsettling, this is a fine novel full of colourful details and vivid characterisation. Lindy
1850: A sea-chest full of books arrives for Antonio Mateus Carvalho Cabral, the younger son of a family of whalers on the small volcanic island of Pico ...
The Carvalho brothers - handsome Marcelinho and clever Antonio - are destined to spend their lives hunting whales. But the arrival of an unexpected gift changes both their lives forever. As the younger Carvalho discovers the fascinating world of the whale, a chasm opens between the two brothers, made all the more perilous by their shared passion for the alluring and wilful Margarida Machado.
From the Azores to Lisbon, from Newfoundland to Australia, our hero travels in search of love, fortune and his very soul. It is in Eden, a small whaling port on the south coast of New South Wales, that he finally finds salvation in the shape of Alice Binney, fellow lost soul and impostor, in flight from her dark past. An enduring bond forms between the two, culminating in a final, dazzling act of atonement.
Gloriously dark, delightful, witty and moving, Mr Carver's Whale is a novel of our many crimes against nature and the human heart, and the price we have to pay for our sins. But can love ever really be a crime?
'A vast and generous novel ... Author Lyn Hughes's love for her characters is evident, and while wonderfully poignant and whimsical, they are not without depth. Their rich inner lives are exquisitely rendered. Mr Carver's Whale is a delightful, almost mythical novel filled with books, ghosts, poetry, oceans, whales, love, desire and death. It is recommended for fans of Captain Corelli's Mandolin and A Gentleman in Moscow.' Books+Publishing
Born in Wales in 1952, Lyn Hughes spent eighteen years in South Africa before settling in Australia in 1982. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novels, The Factory (1990), shortlisted for the National Book Council's New Writing Award, One Way Mirrors (1993), The Bright House (2000) and Flock (2012). Lyn divides her time between Sydney and the Blue Mountains.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Set in the 19th century, this unusual and beguiling novel tells of two brothers who grew up on a small island of the Azores. The community revolves around whaling, and the older brother Marcelinho, who is blessed with good looks and charm is also a natural seaman. The younger brother, clever and inquisitive Antonio, who was born with a shortened leg, is not expected to follow the family trade. But an aunt sends him a chest of books, and his true passion for learning and science is kindled, so that when the opportunity arises for him to join her in Lisbon, the family sends him there. He is sad to leave Marcelinho behind but sadder to leave his dearest friend, Margarida, who has ambitions for the stage. When he returns years later, she has not waited for him - and there starts the true story of his brother's life. As the tale unfolds, Marcelinho changes his identity and his home, washing up in Newfoundland and eventually Eden, carrying secrets and meeting others who hold their own pasts close… At times unsettling, this is a fine novel full of colourful details and vivid characterisation. Lindy
