The Cormorant
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3.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award
A young family receives a surprise when old Uncle Ian dies and leaves them a cottage in north Wales. For Ian’s nephew and his wife Ann, it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune, enabling them to leave their life in the city for a newfound freedom in the remote seaside cottage. There’s just one catch. Uncle Ian’s will has an unusual condition: the couple must care for his pet cormorant or forfeit the bequest. The will’s provision seems harmless enough at first, but when their young son Harry develops a strange fascination for the increasingly sinister and malevolent bird, they soon find that Uncle Ian’s gift may not be a blessing, but a curse.
The Cormorant (1986), Stephen Gregory’s first novel, received widespread critical acclaim, winning the Somerset Maugham Award and earning comparisons to the works of Poe. This edition includes a new introduction by the author, in which he reveals the inspirations for this bleak and haunting tale.
‘[A] first-class terror story with a relentless focus that would have made Edgar Allan Poe proud.’ - New York Times
‘[N]o summary can do justice to the subtlety of Gregory’s first novel, with its fresh, vivid, sensual prose and its superb descriptive and evocative power. An extraordinary novel—original, compelling, brilliant.’ – Library Journal
‘Gregory writes with the hypnotic power of Poe.’ – Publishers Weekly
‘A work of tremendous self-assurance that leaves the reader with a lingering sense of unease and announces the arrival of a considerable new talent.’ – British Book News
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Uncle Ian's strange bequest comes as a "thunderbolt of good fortune'' to a young family when he leaves his nephew a rundown cottage not far from the coast in North Wales. But there is a condition: Uncle Ian's pet cormorant must be cared for. Though Ian's nephew (through whose eyes we observe this sinister tale) and his wife Anne settle in happily to their new life, they are soon disconcerted by the arrival of the bird, ``as ugly and poisonous as a vampire bat.'' Anne shudders at its ``demonic arrogance,'' but their 11-month-old son, Harry, is unpleasantly attracted to the bird, whom they name Archie. As a feeling of impending disaster gradually permeates the narrative, Archie's relentless presence causes a rift between the couple, who must cope with its viciousness and malevolence. The nephew finally decides to do away with Archie, but the cormorant proves to be his nemesis instead. This artful first novel, reminiscent of the tales of Poe, won Britain's Somerset Maugham Award. Gregory uses a low-key style and subtle lyricism to build an atmosphere of nightmarish horror in a tale that could become a classic.
