Falling Animals: A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick

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Months later, after a fruitless investigation, the nameless stranger is buried in an unmarked grave. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report.

Importantly a tanker grounded off the coast of the town and was then later burnt out – its hulk still visible at low tide. It is a novel of rare artistry and elegance, a really unique and sublime experience, one not to be missed!

Vaak zijn dit eenzame, stugge mensen waar slechts af en toe een glimpje menselijkheid aan af te lezen is. The writing is rich and poetic, achingly evocative of the raw and elemental nature of the windswept and briny Sligo shores.

Sure, these are people no stranger to strangeness washing up on their shores, from strandings to shipwrecks; they’ve seen it all over the years. Interestingly, though Armstrong uses a real life event to inspire her novel, on June 16th, 2009, the body of a man (later identified as Peter Bergmann) was discovered on a beach in Sligo and, to this day, how he ended up there is shrouded in mystery. But she is quick to point out that the back story she created is pure fiction and is in no way related to this man, who was named as Peter Bergmann. While there is a backdrop of the guards (police) trying to find out what happened this is not where the heart of the book lies. There were no signs of foul play or drowning, but a post-mortem revealed that he had an advanced stage of cancer.A months long investigation turns up nothing about who he was or came from, but the community have taken him into their hearts, claiming him as one of their own. I would have preferred some sort of rounding out at the end, but it finished as it began with many unknowns. It spans a year in which the authorities try to trace the identity of a corpse found on an Irish beach one August morning.

They work so hard, bringing authors in to talk, getting themselves into schools, running Story Times, all kinds of events, as well of course as extremely popular book groups. Featuring a number of different characters, each chapter is from a different viewpoint as lives intersect like a spider’s web, crossing back and forth, with a staggering attention to detail and an astonishing structure.I really enjoyed Falling Animals, and look forward to reading How to Gut a Fish, this author’s short story collection. Armstrong has a very powerful voice, an eye for nuance and image that far exceeds many of her contemporaries, and she puts it to good use here.