The story of a year in the life of Jason Taylor, 13 years old, growing up in an English village in the early 1980’s. Jason is a hugely likeable character, intelligent and thoughtful and yet mercilessly bullied for the stammer he has. A coming of age novel that is sensitive, intelligent and a thoroughly enjoyable read with something for everyone to empathise with.
May 2010 Guest Editor John Boyne on David Mitchell...
For me, Mitchell is the best writer of my own generation. Each book displays a gift for language and verbal acrobatics which dazzle the reader while never descending into self-indulgence. However my favourite of his books is probably his quietest, Black Swan Green.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Recommendations: |
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David Mitchell comes home - to England, 1982, and the cusp of adolescence.
Jason Taylor is 13, doomed to be growing up in the most boring family in the deadest village (Black Swan Green) in the dullest county (Worcestershire) in the most tedious nation (England) on earth. And he stammers. 13 chapters, each as self-contained as a short story, follow 13 months in his life as he negotiates the pitfalls of school and home and contends with bullies, girls and family politics. In the distance, the Falklands conflict breaks out; close at hand, the village mobilises against a gypsy camp. And through Jason`s eyes, we see what he doesn`t know he knows - and watch unfold what will make him wish his life had been as uneventful as he had believed.
Vividly capturing the mood of the times - high unemployment, Cold War politics and the sunset of agrarian England - this is at once a portrait of an era and of an age: the black hole between childhood and teenagerdom.
Black Swan Green features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Black Swan Green is available in Ebook, Paperback, Hardback
Black Swan Green was written by David Mitchell and published by Sceptre an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton General Division
Black Swan Green has 371 pages
£9.89
