Mister Pip

By: Lloyd Jones

Narrated by: Finty Williams

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year, 2008.
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Award, 2007.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, 2007.
A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.

"A book can change your life forever.

"You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper is in flames."

Bougainville. 1991. A small village on a lush tropical island in the South Pacific. Eighty-six days have passed since Matilda's last day of school as, quietly, war is encroaching from the other end of the island.

When the villagers' safe, predictable lives come to a halt, Bougainville's children are surprised to find the island's only white man, a recluse, re-opening the school. Pop Eye, aka Mr Watts, explains he will introduce the children to Mr Dickens. Matilda and the others think a foreigner is coming to the island and prepare a list of much needed items. They are shocked to discover their acquaintance with Mr Dickens will be through Mr Watts' inspiring reading of Great Expectations.

But on an island at war, the power of fiction has dangerous consequences. Imagination and beliefs are challenged by guns. Mister Pip is an unforgettable tale of survival by story; a dazzling piece of writing that will live long in the mind.

©2006 Lloyd Jones; (P)2007 John Murray Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"The title that lingers most in my mind this year is Lloyd Jones's startlingly immediate Mister Pip, shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize. Its first-person telling makes it a natural audiobook, and Finty Williams's musical, youthful, determined young voice is exactly right for it."( The Times)

get under the skin

It's a must for every amoureux de literature . I wasn't touched by a book like Mister Pip for years! Wonderful written and only sad it isn't unabriged :-)
Now I'm reading great expectation to have even more pleasure to hear it again!