The Wake (novel)

The Wake
First edition
AuthorPaul Kingsnorth
LanguageAnglish
SeriesBuckmaster trilogy
GenreHistorical fiction
Set inThe Lincolnshire Fens during the Norman Invasion
PublisherUnbound Digital
Publication date
April 30, 2015 (2015-04-30)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages384
Awards
ISBN978-1-908-71786-3
Websiteunbound.com/books/the-wake Edit this at Wikidata

The Wake is a 2014 debut novel by British author Paul Kingsnorth.[1] Written in an imaginary language, a hybrid of Old English and Modern English,[2][3] it tells of Buccmaster of Holland,[3] an Anglo-Saxon freeman forced to come to terms with the effects of the Norman Invasion of 1066, during which his wife and sons were killed.[4] He begins a guerrilla war against the Norman invaders in the Lincolnshire Fens.[3][5]

Kingsnorth financed the work through crowdfunding on the platform Unbound. After not receiving support through a mainstream publisher, he did not initially expect a large response to his work.[6] However, the book was longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize[7] and won the 2014 Gordon Burn Prize.[8] The film rights were acquired by the actor and director Mark Rylance,[6][9] who also read a section of the book in 2014 at the Hay Festival.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Wagner, Erica (30 June 2016). "The constant gardener". New Statesman. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  2. ^ Maloney, Jennifer (27 August 2015). "The Wake Poses Readers a Novel Challenge". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  3. ^ a b c Thorpe, Adam (2 April 2014). "The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth review 'A literary triumph'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  4. ^ Sethi, Anita (10 May 2015). "The Wake review – Paul Kingsnorth's innovative, 'shadow language' novel". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  5. ^ McBride, Eimear (27 August 2014). "1066 and all that: Eimear McBride on The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth". New Statesman. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  6. ^ a b Shapiro, Ari (27 August 2015). "The Wake is an Unlikely Hit In An Imaginary Language". NPR. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  7. ^ "The Wake — Paul Kingsnorth". Man Booker Prize. 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Mark Rylance-backed novel wins £5,000 literary prize". BBC News Online. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Mark Rylance film option is latest coup for crowd-funded novel, The Wake". The Guardian. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2015.


Stub icon

This article about a historical novel of the 2010s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page.