Benbecula
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
On the 9th of July 1857, a twenty-five-year-old labourer named Angus MacPhee bludgeoned to death his parents and aunt in the crofting community on the remote Hebridean island of Benbecula.
Five years later, Angus's older brother Malcolm recounts the events leading up to the murders while trying to keep a grip on his own sanity. Malcolm is ostracised by the community and haunted by this gruesome episode in his past, but is he as innocent as he seems?
From Graeme Macrae Burnet, the Booker-shortlisted author of His Bloody Project, comes a tale of darkness, violence and madness, leavened by moments of black humour and absurdity.
Graeme Macrae Burnet was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and now lives in Glasgow. His Bloody Project, his second novel, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016, won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award 2016, and was shortlisted for the LA Times Book Awards 2017. His fourth novel, Case Study, was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 and was included in the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022.
‘This is a fiendishly readable tale that richly deserves the wider attention the Booker has brought it.’ Guardian on His Bloody Project
‘Booker judges have done readers hungry for new and serious fiction a tremendous favour.’ Sunday Times on His Bloody Project
‘Transporting and deliciously frustrating—I loved the way Burnet played with notions of doubt, criminality and justice.’ Hannah Kent on His Bloody Project
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Burnet (Case Study) delves into the circumstances behind a shocking crime in this eerie tale. In 1857 Scotland, 30-something narrator Malcolm MacPhee's younger brother Angus returns to the bleak isle of Benbecula after spending two weeks working on a neighboring island. Angus is in such an agitated state that his family ties him to his bed until he calms down. One day soon after, his three siblings are called to fetch Angus from the local church, where they find him wildly ringing its bell, and they shackle him again. After he's freed, he bashes in the heads of his aunt, mother, and father with a rock while Malcolm; their older sister, Marion; and their youngest brother, John, are out collecting seaweed. Malcolm's account oscillates from bawdy depictions of Angus's youthful transgressions, such as his compulsive masturbation, to the aftermath of the murders some years later, when John and Marion are missing for unknown reasons. The novel's devilish appeal lies in the intoxicated and isolated Malcolm's narration from within the confines of his family's "skullhouse," where he muses about his own morality ("It's not that I am wicked, at least I do not think I am. I am neither good nor bad. I simply am"). The author once again proves his mastery of moody psychological thrillers.
