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Natural Flights of the Human Mind (P.S.)
by Clare Morrall
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780060843366 
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Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Peter Straker lives in a converted lighthouse on the Devon coast with a fine view of the sea, two cats, and no neighbors. That's just the way he likes it. He speaks to no one except in his dreams, where he converses with some of the seventy-eight people he believes he killed nearly a quarter-century earlier — though he can't quite remember how it happened. But Straker's carefully preserved solitude is about to be invaded by Imogen Doody, a prickly and unapproachable school caretaker with a painful history herself. Against his will — and hers — Straker soon finds himself helping Imogen repair the run-down cottage she's inherited. There are forces gathering, however, as the twenty-fifth anniversary of Straker's crime approaches, and they're intent upon disturbing his precarious peace.
Review:
"Grappling with larger-than-life issues of guilt, redemption and forgiveness, Morrall showcases the kind of quirky characters and improbable plotting that made her debut, Astonishing Splashes of Colour, a finalist for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize. Is a 50-something hermit, Peter Straker, responsible for the deaths of 78 people a quarter-century ago, when he crashed his small plane into a moving passenger train? The coroner ruled the crash an accident, but the details are hazy in Peter's memory, part of his former life as a drunken playboy. Eaten by guilt, Peter doesn't speak except to the 78 victims, who now live in his head: 'There isn't room in his mind for anyone else.' For two years, he has corresponded with the passengers' families under false pretenses, fueling his own guilt and inciting the families to seek him out for revenge. When morose, embittered Imogen Doody, a 40-ish school caretaker and writer, inherits a dilapidated cottage near the decommissioned lighthouse where Peter lives, Peter begins a tentative engagement with the world of the living, pursuing an unlikely relationship with her. Morrall is a deft guide through the landscape of grief, but her artistic prose can distance readers from her characters. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
About the Author
Clare Morrall's first novel, Astonishing Splashes of Colour, was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize. She is a music teacher with two grown children. She lives in Birmingham, England.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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Betsy McKenny, March 21, 2007 (view all comments by Betsy McKenny)
If you thought you were responsible for the deaths of 78 people, how would you go about living the rest of your life? Natural Flights of the Human Mind is about a man who finds himself in that position, and who deals with it by living alone (with his guilt, and two cats) in an abandoned lighthouse until, 25 years later, events conspire to draw him back into life. ("Recalled to Life" -- the title Dickens used for the first part of A Tale of Two Cities -- would also have made a good title for this book.) Despite the bleak-sounding premise, the book is often quite funny. In fact, what drew me to it in the first place was a quote on the back cover that said the author's "comic vision" would be "familiar to admirers of Barbara Trapido" (whose books I love). Having now read the book, I'm not sure I completely agree with the comparison -- for one thing, Trapido's characters tend to be much more verbally dextrous than Morrall's -- but I enjoyed the book so much that I won't quibble about it, because it was responsible for introducing me to a wonderful new writer whose future works I look forward to discovering.
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780060843366
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Harper Perennial
- Author:
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Alienation (Social psychology)
- Subject:
- Neighbors
- Subject:
- General Fiction
- Copyright:
- 2006
- Edition Description:
- Paperback
- Series:
- P.S.
- Publication Date:
- June 2006
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 390
- Dimensions:
- 802x532x100 69
