The Cormorant (1986)
Stephen Gregory
With a new introduction by the Author
Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award
Book Description
A young family receives a surprise when old Uncle Ian dies and leaves them a cottage in north Wales. For Ian’s nephew and his wife Ann, it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune, enabling them to leave their life in the city for a newfound freedom in the remote seaside cottage. There’s just one catch. Uncle Ian’s will has an unusual condition: the couple must care for his pet cormorant or forfeit the bequest. The will’s provision seems harmless enough at first, but when their young son Harry develops a strange fascination for the increasingly sinister and malevolent bird, they soon find that Uncle Ian’s gift may not be a blessing, but a curse.
The Cormorant (1986), Stephen Gregory’s first novel, received widespread critical acclaim, winning the Somerset Maugham Award and earning comparisons to the works of Poe. This edition includes a new introduction by the author, in which he reveals the inspirations for this bleak and haunting tale.
Stephen Gregory
With a new introduction by the Author
Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award
Book Description
A young family receives a surprise when old Uncle Ian dies and leaves them a cottage in north Wales. For Ian’s nephew and his wife Ann, it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune, enabling them to leave their life in the city for a newfound freedom in the remote seaside cottage. There’s just one catch. Uncle Ian’s will has an unusual condition: the couple must care for his pet cormorant or forfeit the bequest. The will’s provision seems harmless enough at first, but when their young son Harry develops a strange fascination for the increasingly sinister and malevolent bird, they soon find that Uncle Ian’s gift may not be a blessing, but a curse.
The Cormorant (1986), Stephen Gregory’s first novel, received widespread critical acclaim, winning the Somerset Maugham Award and earning comparisons to the works of Poe. This edition includes a new introduction by the author, in which he reveals the inspirations for this bleak and haunting tale.
reviews
‘[A] first-class terror story with a relentless focus that would have made Edgar Allan Poe proud.’ - New York Times
‘[N]o summary can do justice to the subtlety of Gregory’s first novel, with its fresh, vivid, sensual prose and its superb descriptive and evocative power. An extraordinary novel—original, compelling, brilliant.’ – Library Journal
‘Gregory writes with the hypnotic power of Poe.’ – Publishers Weekly
‘A work of tremendous self-assurance that leaves the reader with a lingering sense of unease and announces the arrival of a considerable new talent.’ – British Book News
‘[N]o summary can do justice to the subtlety of Gregory’s first novel, with its fresh, vivid, sensual prose and its superb descriptive and evocative power. An extraordinary novel—original, compelling, brilliant.’ – Library Journal
‘Gregory writes with the hypnotic power of Poe.’ – Publishers Weekly
‘A work of tremendous self-assurance that leaves the reader with a lingering sense of unease and announces the arrival of a considerable new talent.’ – British Book News
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BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1939140374 ISBN-13: 978-1939140371 $15.99 US, 132 pp. Trade paper Published 2013 |
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Stephen Gregory (b. 1952) was born in Derby, England, and earned a degree in law from the University of London. He worked as a teacher for ten years in various places, including Wales, Algeria, and Sudan, before moving to the mountains of Snowdonia in Wales to write his first novel, The Cormorant (1986), which won Britain’s prestigious Somerset Maugham Award and drew comparisons to Poe. The book was also adapted for film as a BBC production starring Ralph Fiennes. Two more novels, both set in Wales, followed: The Woodwitch (1988) and The Blood of Angels (1994). After the publication of The Blood of Angels, he worked in Hollywood for a year with Oscar-winning director William Friedkin (The Exorcist). More recently, he has published The Perils and Dangers of this Night (2008), and his new novel, The Waking That Kills, will be published in late 2013.