The Swordfish and the Star by Gavin Knight
Cornwall and its seas are brought to life, mixing drinking and drugs and sea spray, moonlit beaches and shattering storms, myth and urban myth.
An alternative perspective, telling the stories of the fishermen who work on this treacherous stretch of coast, tales gathered over two years of interviews, many conducted in the Swordfish and Star of the title -- Tom Robbins * Financial Times Books of the Year *
A terrific new book about a hard and dangerous way of life * Esquire, Book of the Year *
Knight has gone in search of old smells and danger and found them in spadesThere are extraordinarily evocative stories here, of the mad bravado of scarred, de-fingered fishermen and the stoicism of their women... As a cross-section of west Cornish lives, a celebration of brave eccentricity and a prose illustration of the way those lives overlap and interrelate, The Swordfish and the Star takes some beating -- Patrick Gale * Guardian *
Knight recounts fascinating detail, but also shows a novelist's skill in painting a vivid picture of real Cornwall and real Cornish people: Shane Meadows meets The Perfect Storm * Esquire *
[Knight] is as adept with words as his hero Nutty Noah the Cadgwith ring-netter is with a shoal of pilchards ... exhilarating -- Tom Fort * Literary Review *
A terrific new book about a hard and dangerous way of life * Esquire, Book of the Year *
Knight has gone in search of old smells and danger and found them in spadesThere are extraordinarily evocative stories here, of the mad bravado of scarred, de-fingered fishermen and the stoicism of their women... As a cross-section of west Cornish lives, a celebration of brave eccentricity and a prose illustration of the way those lives overlap and interrelate, The Swordfish and the Star takes some beating -- Patrick Gale * Guardian *
Knight recounts fascinating detail, but also shows a novelist's skill in painting a vivid picture of real Cornwall and real Cornish people: Shane Meadows meets The Perfect Storm * Esquire *
[Knight] is as adept with words as his hero Nutty Noah the Cadgwith ring-netter is with a shoal of pilchards ... exhilarating -- Tom Fort * Literary Review *
Gavin Knight’s first book, Hood Rat, about gun and gang crime in the UK's cities, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Crime Writer’s Association Non-fiction Dagger in 2012. To research it, he spent two years with criminals, frontline police units and gang members from the inner cities of Britain. His work has appeared in publications including The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Prospect, Newsweek, New Statesman and Esquire; and he has appeared on BBC, CNN, ITN, Channel Four News and Sky News. This is his second book.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784700997 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784700991 |
| Title | The Swordfish and the Star |
| Author | Gavin Knight |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2017-05-04 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |