Publisher's Synopsis
Winner of the Edinburgh International Book Festival's First Book Award and longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize.
'A truly original and enthralling novel. Ivor Punch is a magnificent creation and his story is mischievous, sad, funny and truthful' - Stephen Kelman, BOOKER-SHORTLISTED author of PIGEON ENGLISH
' Incredible... In parts witty, shocking, curious and wry, it is a multi-faceted novel that delights at every turn... A thing of genius and wonder... It is hard to believe that this is his first novel, so original and impressive it is.' welovethisbook.com
Imagine an island, a place separated from the mainland by choppy seas. A place of myths and faith, where a Headless Horseman is said to stalk the woods but where the kirk is always full.
Imagine a community which held its own against Darwin but which can't hold on to its own.
Prepare to meet a pioneering female travel writer, two fatherless boys, and a man who, quite simply, fell from the sky. And, at the centre of it all, the figure who links the past to the present - the irrepressible, unforgettable former Sergeant Punch.
Ivor Punch will not be taking his secrets to the grave. He's going to share them: with a departed relative, with President Obama and, especially, with you.
Hilarious and heartfelt, rowdy and true, The Letters of Ivor Punch is a novel about fathers and sons, secrets and lies and how, sometimes, you have to leave home to know what home is.
