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The Jigsaw Chronicles
Deep within our everyday lives are existences that might be possible. They seem to wait only for a decisive change of circumstance or imagination to become reality.
Brook is a lawyer. He is secure, modest and comfortable - a man without huge expectations or ambitions. Then one day he enters a misty doorway into a world which the Russian revolutionary Trotsky has transformed by perpetual revolution - a totalitarian world stripped of every luxury and advantage.
At first Brook believes this wrecked version of his life to be a fake, then gradually he understands that he has merely imagined his former condition, that his name is Johnny and that this is the way things truly are. The person who helps him piece together the fragments of his identity and to survive a city in ruins is Jayne, whom he seems to remember as a waitress in a coffee bar. As Johnny struggles to reassemble and record an authentic history of himself and his world, he and Jayne must confront events that move suddenly to exterminate them and the millions they dwell among.
Brook is a lawyer. He is secure, modest and comfortable - a man without huge expectations or ambitions. Then one day he enters a misty doorway into a world which the Russian revolutionary Trotsky has transformed by perpetual revolution - a totalitarian world stripped of every luxury and advantage.
At first Brook believes this wrecked version of his life to be a fake, then gradually he understands that he has merely imagined his former condition, that his name is Johnny and that this is the way things truly are. The person who helps him piece together the fragments of his identity and to survive a city in ruins is Jayne, whom he seems to remember as a waitress in a coffee bar. As Johnny struggles to reassemble and record an authentic history of himself and his world, he and Jayne must confront events that move suddenly to exterminate them and the millions they dwell among.
263 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
1 person want to read
About the author
Kevin Ireland
40 books2 followersIreland was born Kevin Mark Jowsey. As an infant he travelled to London with his parents where they lived for a time before returning to New Zealand. Shortly thereafter, his parents' marriage failed and he grew up on his maternal grandfather's Waikato farm, and then in Takapuna where he lived with his father. After leaving school, he studied at Auckland Teachers' College but did not complete a qualification.
After changing his surname by deed poll to Ireland in 1957, he headed to London in 1959 where he remained for twenty-five years (with the interlude of a short interval in Bulgaria, translating Bulgarian poetry into English); for two decades, Ireland was employed by The Times.
In 1986, Ireland was writer-in-residence at Canterbury University; in 1987, he was awarded the Grimshaw-Sargeson Fellowship; in 1989, he was the University of Auckland's writing fellow, assistant editor of Quote Unquote, and president of PEN, 1990–91.
Kevin Ireland OBE has published novels, short stories, memoirs, a book on fishing and another on growing old. Awards include an honorary doctorate, the 2004 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement and the 2006 A.W. Reed Award for his contribution to New Zealand writing.
Ireland died after a battle with cancer in Auckland at the age of 89.
From book blurb & Wikipedia
After changing his surname by deed poll to Ireland in 1957, he headed to London in 1959 where he remained for twenty-five years (with the interlude of a short interval in Bulgaria, translating Bulgarian poetry into English); for two decades, Ireland was employed by The Times.
In 1986, Ireland was writer-in-residence at Canterbury University; in 1987, he was awarded the Grimshaw-Sargeson Fellowship; in 1989, he was the University of Auckland's writing fellow, assistant editor of Quote Unquote, and president of PEN, 1990–91.
Kevin Ireland OBE has published novels, short stories, memoirs, a book on fishing and another on growing old. Awards include an honorary doctorate, the 2004 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement and the 2006 A.W. Reed Award for his contribution to New Zealand writing.
Ireland died after a battle with cancer in Auckland at the age of 89.
From book blurb & Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 11, 2009
This book is essentially Brook's / Johnny's story - his search for his identity, his ambivalence in dealing with his reality, and the romance/relationship issues that Johnny has with Jayne.
There are secondary characters (Peter and Wallace), but they are only there to flesh out Brook / Johnny.
Initally I found the book easy to put down (the sort that you read while having coffee), but the further I got into the tale, the less willing I was to put it down. Happily I'm on holiday and was able to sit and finish it.
I dont think that I would read it again (ones that I love I always re-read), but it i an interest concept and an enjoyable read.
There are secondary characters (Peter and Wallace), but they are only there to flesh out Brook / Johnny.
Initally I found the book easy to put down (the sort that you read while having coffee), but the further I got into the tale, the less willing I was to put it down. Happily I'm on holiday and was able to sit and finish it.
I dont think that I would read it again (ones that I love I always re-read), but it i an interest concept and an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review