The Wake, by Paul Kingsnorth

Now and then, a book pops up that is extraordinary in its nature, subject and style – a true original. And The Wake, by English author Paul Kingsnorth, which I finished a while back, is one such book.

Taking those three points of extraordinariness in turn, the nature of the book is that it was originallycrowd-funded. Asking people to commit to something financially in advance – a business venture, a book, a film or whatever – in return for various perks seems to be an increasingly popular way...