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The Moor is Dark Beneath the Moon
Advance Praise from Carol Shields, author of Unless and The Stone Diaries "I read The Moor Is Dark Beneath the Moon with great pleasure and with a particular appreciation for its narrative energy; one wants to go on turning over those pages. I loved the Cornish stuff and felt affection for the kids, the teenagers–well, more than affection, more like an instant recognition." – Carol Shields After decades in Canada, Davey Bryant returns to Cornwall, England, for the funeral of a mysterious relative and lands in the middle of a property-inheritance squabble that threatens to escalate into something far worse. Distraught by the changed landscape of his beloved homeland, Davey wanders the lonely moors and is soon sleuthing his way through a farce of megalithic proportions in which a midget couple driving a Morris Mini van might or might not be reincarnations of an evil Camelot dwarf and his consort. In the course of his investigations, Davey becomes ever more dislocated in time as he tries to fathom the nature of a gay family tree that besides himself may include a spinster aunt and a good-looking teenage cousin named Quentin. Magic’s in the air, and it’s not just the glint of the BBC cameras shooting a mini-series about merlin and King Arthur in Tintagel. As Davey says about the moors, "Lots of things have died out here. And not just bodies, but hopes and strange loves. Nothing is really quite as it seems."
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
1 person is currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
David Watmough
30 books3 followersDavid Watmough was born in Essex, England, and grew up in Cornwall, where his family had farmed for centuries. In 1945 he was imprisoned in a jail in Portsmouth [for homosexuality] when in the navy during World War II. A prison chaplain helped him get into university after he was released from jail; he attended King's College at the University of London, majoring in theology.
When he was 21 he left university to live in Paris, where he wrote his first book, A Church Renascent, and met his longtime partner, ex-Californian Floyd St. Clair.
Watmough worked as a freelance writer for the BBC in England, then freelanced for the New York Times before landing a job at the San Francisco Examiner. He worked there for two or three years, while St. Clair was finishing his PhD.
Watmough gained his Canadian citizenship in 1963. After a stint with the CBC, he was hired by The Vancouver Sun newspaper to write about drama and art. He left The Sun and newspaper criticism in the mid-1960s when he received a Canada Council grant to write a play. He began writing “monodramas”, which he performed onstage; this led to work in Britain, Canada, the U.S. and West Germany.
Richard Olafson of Ekstasis Editions received a Talonbooks copy of Watmough’s monodramas when Olafson moved to B.C. He is still Watmough’s publisher, three decades later.
As he grew more connected to Vancouver's cultural scene, Watmough also grew concerned & involved with writers' opportunities there, & became the first President of the BC Federation of Writers. He remained one of its most illustrious lifetime members, encouraging new members & helping the burgeoning scene develop.
Watmough lived in Vancouver for 40 years with St. Clair, a beloved University of British Columbia French professor and opera critic, until St. Clair's death in 2009. The couple became well-known fixtures among Vancouver's "literati", throwing countless legendary dinner parties for Vancouver’s writers and artists.
In 2004 David & Floyd moved from their well-known Kitsilano home & active social hub to a house they'd purchased in Boundary Bay. The move isolated them somewhat from their former social circles.
Watmough published his autobiography, Myself Through Others: Memoirs in 2008. A few days before his birthday in August 2011, he received a copy of his new novel, To Each An Albatross. It’s his 21st book, and the fifth he’s published in the last five years.
After the death of his beloved partner Floyd St. Clair in 2009 Watmough moved back to Vancouver, becoming what he famously called an "inmate" of Crofton Manor seniors residence in Kerrisdale. There, he began writing a voluminous number of poems in the Sonnet form, which he frequently shared with the many friends he made there.
Watmough died @ Crofton Manor @ 11 am on August 4th 2017 - 2 days before the untimely death of Marguerite Chesterman, wife of Watmough's former good friend & CBC producer Robert Chesterman, in her longtime family home just down the road - unbeknownst to the Chesterman family at the time.
[More detailed info can be found @ this link: https://bcbooklook.com/2017/08/14/dav...]
When he was 21 he left university to live in Paris, where he wrote his first book, A Church Renascent, and met his longtime partner, ex-Californian Floyd St. Clair.
Watmough worked as a freelance writer for the BBC in England, then freelanced for the New York Times before landing a job at the San Francisco Examiner. He worked there for two or three years, while St. Clair was finishing his PhD.
Watmough gained his Canadian citizenship in 1963. After a stint with the CBC, he was hired by The Vancouver Sun newspaper to write about drama and art. He left The Sun and newspaper criticism in the mid-1960s when he received a Canada Council grant to write a play. He began writing “monodramas”, which he performed onstage; this led to work in Britain, Canada, the U.S. and West Germany.
Richard Olafson of Ekstasis Editions received a Talonbooks copy of Watmough’s monodramas when Olafson moved to B.C. He is still Watmough’s publisher, three decades later.
As he grew more connected to Vancouver's cultural scene, Watmough also grew concerned & involved with writers' opportunities there, & became the first President of the BC Federation of Writers. He remained one of its most illustrious lifetime members, encouraging new members & helping the burgeoning scene develop.
Watmough lived in Vancouver for 40 years with St. Clair, a beloved University of British Columbia French professor and opera critic, until St. Clair's death in 2009. The couple became well-known fixtures among Vancouver's "literati", throwing countless legendary dinner parties for Vancouver’s writers and artists.
In 2004 David & Floyd moved from their well-known Kitsilano home & active social hub to a house they'd purchased in Boundary Bay. The move isolated them somewhat from their former social circles.
Watmough published his autobiography, Myself Through Others: Memoirs in 2008. A few days before his birthday in August 2011, he received a copy of his new novel, To Each An Albatross. It’s his 21st book, and the fifth he’s published in the last five years.
After the death of his beloved partner Floyd St. Clair in 2009 Watmough moved back to Vancouver, becoming what he famously called an "inmate" of Crofton Manor seniors residence in Kerrisdale. There, he began writing a voluminous number of poems in the Sonnet form, which he frequently shared with the many friends he made there.
Watmough died @ Crofton Manor @ 11 am on August 4th 2017 - 2 days before the untimely death of Marguerite Chesterman, wife of Watmough's former good friend & CBC producer Robert Chesterman, in her longtime family home just down the road - unbeknownst to the Chesterman family at the time.
[More detailed info can be found @ this link: https://bcbooklook.com/2017/08/14/dav...]
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