My Name is Yip
Shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
A THE TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD
'Immersive and beautiful' The Times
'A rollicking, page-turning wild west adventure' Guardian
'Thrilling' New Statesman
'I can't recommend it enough' Rachel Joyce
'Paddy Crewe has a 24-carat gift' Sebastian Barry
Yip Tolroy and his fiery Mama run the general store in Heron's Creek, Georgia. An uneventful life, until gold is discovered nearby and Yip is caught up in a bloody, grievous crime forcing him to flee. On the run, friendless and alone, he meets Dud Carter a savvy but unlikely companion. Together, they embark on a journey that thrusts them unwittingly into a world of menace and violence, of lust and revenge. And, as Yip and Dud's odyssey takes them further into the unknown - via travelling shows, escaped slaves and the greed of gold-hungry men - the pull of home only gets stronger. But what will they find there if they ever return?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Crewe debuts with a rollicking picaresque set in early 19th-century Appalachia. The night Yip Tolroy is born, his father disappears. Yip is raised by his single mother, who runs a general store and treats Yip as something of an afterthought, mainly because the boy grows up mute. He is also bald and short, so people tend to dismiss him as a simpleton. When Yip turns 14, gold is discovered nearby and Yip witnesses firsthand the violence that gold fever can bring. Forced to flee town after killing a man in self-defense, Yip is accompanied by the resourceful Dud Carter, who becomes his guardian angel. The two reluctantly help a man who escaped from slavery on a quest to find his sister, and Yip is abducted by the operator of a traveling show, who makes Yip play the part of a wild boy kept in a cage. After a "short spell," Yip and Dud are reunited and they return home for a reckoning with their destiny. Yip, who narrates as an adult, is an enthusiastic storyteller, and his relationship with Dud forms the fervent backbone of the episodic narrative. This memorable string of adventures reads like a one-of-a-kind mash-up of Charles Dickens and Cormac McCarthy.
