Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
Whaling
Whaling
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Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description
1792: Pan wahoddir helwyr morfilod Nantucket i sefydlu porthladd Aberdaugleddau, cânt eu rhagflaenu gan forfil. Beth yw ystyr hyn? Mae'r ffin rhwng ofergoel a ffydd yn denau, a chaiff y trigolion lleol eu brawychu, dan arweiniad pregethwr gwallgof.
Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description
1792: Nantucket whalers, invited to found the port of Milford Haven, are preceded by a beached whale. An omen for the local people, but what is its meaning? The line between superstition and faith blurs, the local people become fearful and led by their increasingly insane preacher fashion an hysterical Jonah-like fate for the incomers.
Manylion y cynnyrch / Product details
- ISBN 13
- 9781781727065
- Gwales Code
- gwales.com.9781781727065
- Gwerthwr / Vendor
- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
- Long Title
- Whaling
- Awdur / Author
- Munday, Nathan
- Current Price ex VAT
- £9.99
- Current Price inc VAT
- £9.99
- Availability Status (EN)
- Available
- Availability Status (CY)
- Ar gael
- Dyddiad cyhoeddi / Publication Date
- 2023-05-26
- Cyhoeddwr / Publisher
- Seren
- Media Type (EN)
- Paperback / softback
- Media Type (CY)
- Clawr meddal
- Pages
- 232 pages
- Size
- 135 × 208 mm; depth 15 mm
- Language Code
- English
- Categori / Category
- CY: Nofelau a Storïau ar Gyfer Oedolion (yn Saesneg) | EN: Adult Fiction and Stories (in English)
- Is-gategori / Subcategory
- CY: Ffuglen Lenyddol a Chyffredinol (yn Saesneg) | EN: General and Literary Fiction (in English)
Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography
Nathan Munday is a young writer from Carmarthenshire who lives near Bridgend. He won the M Wynn Thomas New Scholar’s Prize in 2016 for an essay on RS Thomas, and was second in the New Welsh Review Writings Awards for ‘Seven Days: A Pyrenean Adventure’ (Parthian, 2017). Until recently he was guardian of Ty Mawr Wybrnant, the Snowdonian birthplace of Bible translator William Morgan. He has published stories, poems and reviews in a variety of magazines, including Cheval, Wales Arts Review, and New Welsh Review. He is bilingual. Find out more on his website, www.nathanmunday.com. Nathan is a trainee minister.
Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review
Nathan Munday offers a haunting, semi-fictitious depiction of the Nantucket Quaker whaler families settling in the Welsh town of Milford Haven in his brand-new novel, Whaling . In his book, the author contemplates the uncanny alongside religion to create a compelling story that culminates with the most visceral and unbelievable imagery, which will leave readers questioning what really happened when the whalers came to Milford Haven in 1792. The novel commences with the arrival of the Quakers in south-west Wales, which strangely coincides with the news of a whale washed up on the very same shore the whalers intend to make their home. Readers know this is the whale that the young Quaker, Joseph, harpooned to death before sailing toward Milford Haven, but the township, led by Reverend David Jones, perceives the beached whale as some kind of dark omen connected to the arrival of the Quakers. And so Munday’s plot transpires: although the Quakers are helping to develop the town’s habitability, the townsfolk grow more and more suspicious of them. This is perpetuated by a young woman named Laura’s latest peculiar dreams, which threaten to compromise her chastity, and which the reverend believes to be a consequence of the Nantucketer’s immigration to their shores. With the dead whale’s rotting carcass remaining on the beach – a bleak and foreboding backdrop as tensions in the town rise – the whale’s Trojan-horse element acts as a constant reminder of the whalers’ association with the uncanny and ungodly, thus foreshadowing the harrowing conclusion to this tale. Throughout the book, the author aligns the real and the false, playing with these juxtapositions and prompting readers to interrogate what they believe to be grounded in reality or to be simply a fallacy, and to recognise how difficult it is to distinguish the two. This takes form within the story as Munday contemplates the difference between the fantastical and what is gospel, with the two themes almost merging at the end of the book, making it impossible to view them as separate. The author also uses the structure of his book to blur the lines even further by intertwining his fictional story and poetic licence in his descriptions, with pages rich with historical facts about the Quaker immigration to Milford Haven. Whilst this confirms that the narrative is based on truth, readers are left to consider how much of Munday’s story could be real. This produces a particularly profound message on how we are never to know all the answers, that we are only left with our beliefs that come from within. Munday, as a religious man, is almost critiquing those who protest that God is not real because, earnestly, how do they know? At its core, this is a tale of the sublime that is at the same time rooted in history, with Munday’s incredible writing style being a testament to how he can leave readers questioning whether the most extraordinary happenings might have actually occurred. Whaling is a story of contradictions, with the imagery of the whale being disturbing yet almost ethereal, along with the mingling of fable and truth being uncomfortable yet endearing. It is readers’ job to contemplate these conflicts and, in doing so, to provoke a reflective awakening of themselves and unearth what they truly believe.
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