Not Forgetting The Whale

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What to expect

THE STORY OF A MAN WHO HAD GIVEN UP HOPE...
...AND THE VILLAGE THAT GAVE IT BACK TO HIM
'Forget everything you know about apocalypses: this novel, set in Cornwall, will restore your faith in humanity' Elle UK
'A gentle and uplifting tale of warding off apocalypse in a remote corner of Cornwall' Financial Times
'As the front pages crowd with headlines that grow ever more grim, Not Forgetting the Whale offers a very welcome alternative' Independent
When a young City trader, Joe, washes up on the sands of St Piran in Cornwall, warning of a deadly pandemic virus and a financial apocalypse, he is rescued by the villagers, and given a home.
From the retired village doctor and the beachcomber, to the priest's wife and the flamboyant romantic novelist, they take this lost soul into their midst. The village, Joe tells them, must store up food, and isolate themselves to stay safe.
But are Joe's fears unfounded? Why has Joe fled the city for St Piran? And what of the whale that lurks in the bay?
Intimate, funny and heart-warming, Not Forgetting the Whale is a story about a community reacting to a deadly threat, about the best and worst in our nature - and the search for a place to call home

(p) 2015 Orion Publishing Group

Critics Review

  • a warm-hearted book crammed with interesting ideas. It’s a book full of doomsday predictions with a Cityboy in a starring role that makes the world seem like a more hopeful place. It’s also very, very good.

    EMERALD STREET
  • This is a tremendously enjoyable book. And as the front pages crowd with headlines that grow ever more grim, Not Forgetting the Whale offers a very welcome alternative.

    INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
  • An intriguing and thought-provoking story

    CANDIS
  • An exciting and moving read

    ESSENTIALS
  • The lives of the residents in sleepy St Piran is changed when a man washes up, half drowned, on the shore of the Cornish seaside village.

    THE TIMES
  • It’s easy to see this simply as a modern interpretation of the story of Jonah and the whale, but this charming tale by John Ironmonger.. is considerably more complex.. it’s a love story of sorts and, above all, it’s about hte innate goodness of people and our connections with the wider world

    PRESS ASSOCIATION

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