English Passengers
{{short description|2000 historical novel by Matthew Kneale}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox novel
| pub_date = March 14, 2000
| image = EnglishPassengers.jpg
| caption = First edition (publ. Hamish Hamilton)
| publisher = Hamish Hamilton
| isbn = 978-0-241-14068-0
| author = Matthew Kneale
| awards = Whitbread Book Award (2000)
}}
English Passengers ({{ISBN|0-385-49744-X}}) is a 2000 historical novel written by Matthew Kneale,{{Cite web |date=2000-03-04 |title=All hands on deck |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/mar/04/fiction.bookerprize2000 |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=The Guardian}} which won that year's Whitbread Book Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Miles Franklin Award. It is narrated by 20 different characters and tells the story of a voyage to look for the Garden of Eden in Tasmania and the decimation of that island’s indigenous populationRoth, Henry Ling (1899). "The Aborigines of Tasmania". Halifax U.K.: F. King & Sons. of Aboriginal Tasmanians.
Plot summary
In 1857, after their attempts to smuggle contraband goods land them with a heavy fine from the British Customs, Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley and his crew of Manx sailors from Peel are forced to offer their ship for charter. The vessel is quickly hired by a party of Englishmen headed by an eccentric Vicar, the Reverend Geoffrey Wilson, who believes that the Garden of Eden is located in Tasmania and wants to mount an expedition there to find it. However, unbeknownst to the clergyman, one of his fellow travellers has an entirely different reason for journeying to the island. Dr Thomas Potter is a renowned surgeon who is developing a thesis on the races of man and hopes to find some interesting specimens there.
Running parallel with this story, but starting some 30 or so years earlier, are the recollections of Peevay, one of Tasmania's natives, who describes the devastating impact the white settlers had on his people, and the Aboriginal people's struggle to adapt to the cultural changes which were forced on them.
Many of the chapters alternate between the two different time periods, but when the Manx ship eventually docks in Tasmania, both strands of the story are brought together for the book's conclusion.
Reception
English Passengers was well received among British press,{{cite news |title=Books of the moment: What the papers said |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph/151847332/ |access-date=19 July 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=25 Mar 2000 |page=12}}{{cite news |title=Books of the moment: What the papers said |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph/151847338/|access-date=19 July 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=1 Apr 2000 |page=70}} as well as other critical reviews.
Kirkus Reviews called it "impressively knowledgeable, and very moving historical novel,"{{cite web| title= English Passengers| date= 20 May 2010| website= Kirkus Reviews| url= https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/matthew-kneale/english-passengers/| accessdate= 21 January 2022| archive-date= 5 November 2021| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211105004421/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/matthew-kneale/english-passengers/| url-status= live}} while Publishers Weekly referred to it as a "rich tale"; they highlighted how "somehow Kneale manages to keep the reader from becoming confused", despite the novel being "told by 20 different voices skipping back and forth across the years", crediting "Kneale's careful research and colorful storytelling result in an impressive epic".{{cite web |last=Talese |first=Nan A. |date=28 February 2000 |title=English Passengers |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-49743-5 |accessdate=21 January 2022 |website=Publishers Weekly |archive-date=1 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101165558/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-49743-5 |url-status=live }}
| class="wikitable"
|+Awards for English Passengers !Year !Award !Result !{{Abbreviation|Ref.|Reference}} |
| rowspan="3" |2000
|Shortlist |{{cite web |title=Literature: Matthew Kneale |url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/matthew-kneale |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808193255/https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/matthew-kneale |archive-date=8 August 2018 |accessdate=21 January 2022 |website=British Council}} |
| Miles Franklin Award
|Shortlist |{{Cn|date=September 2024}} |
| Whitbread Book of the Year
|Winner |{{Cite web |title=Past Winners |url=http://www.costabookawards.com/downloads/PastWinners.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229131124/http://www.costabookawards.com/downloads/PastWinners.pdf |archive-date=2009-12-29 |access-date=2022-02-07 |website=Costa Book Awards}} |
| 2002
|Winner |{{Cn|date=September 2024}} |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/english-passengers A brief summary of the book] [http://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/english-passengers/guide together with points for discussion]
Category:Novels by Matthew Kneale
Category:Costa Book Award–winning works
Category:Novels set in Tasmania