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Mr. Allbones' Ferrets

Fiona Farrell

3.42 · Rating details · 64 ratings · 11 reviews

A young man out poaching. A beautiful maiden in a mysterious house. A perilous voyage to distant islands.

A literary sensation from New Zealand, Mr. Allbones’ Ferrets introduces a stunning new writer to American readers. The winner of numerous literary awards in New Zealand, Fiona Farrell is poised to capture a whole new continent of fans with this latest book.

A chance enco ...more

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Hardcover, 224 pages

Published August 4th 2009 by Thomas Dunne Books (first published January 2007)

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Apr 01, 2015 Rudy Lopez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mr. Allbones’ Ferrets is a highly engaging historical fantasy around the transport of ferrets to New Zealand in the Nineteenth Century to combat the infestation of rabbits transported from Europe twenty years previously.
The narrative is told through the personal experience of the protagonist, Walter Allbones, a labouring class young man who makes some of his living in the Lincolnshire countryside by poaching rabbits. An unexpected encounter with a portly landowner and his granddaughter on a d Mr. Allbones’ Ferrets is a highly engaging historical fantasy around the transport of ferrets to New Zealand in the Nineteenth Century to combat the infestation of rabbits transported from Europe twenty years previously.
The narrative is told through the personal experience of the protagonist, Walter Allbones, a labouring class young man who makes some of his living in the Lincolnshire countryside by poaching rabbits. An unexpected encounter with a portly landowner and his granddaughter on a dark night is the inciting incident that starts a sequence of events which will ultimately lead to his immigrating to this country with the hand of his true love. It is a happy ending for everyone except the birdlife of New Zealand.
The author is not didactic on the theme of ecological catastrophe but gives us information gleaned from historical records from the National Archives, the National Library and other sources, as well as informing us about the rationale and process of the disastrous decision primarily through the voice and actions of the scientifically inclined Mr. Pitford and his ward, Eugenia. We are left to make our own assessment of the relevance and moral implication of this information, which is not difficult to do.
By contrast, the story of Walter’s attraction for Eugenia, his constant struggles with Fowler Metcalf, in one form or another, and his intended goal of making a lucrative financial gain so that he can secure the lives of his siblings brings into vivid relief the power of human narrative to engage us. Even now I doubt that anyone reads this book and hopes that the endeavour will fail so that 183 ferrets are not introduced into our fragile environment. We want Allbones to succeed so that he achieves his personal hopes and dreams.
The narrative is written in the third person, but alternates between the past and the present tense. I imagine for dramatic impact?
The central characters: Allbones, Metcalf, Pitford and Eugenia, are all well-defined with the exception of the physical description of Allbones himself. Although I had his voice and body type clearly in mind I kept wondering throughout the book if he had a beard or not and even what the colour and texture of his hair was. By contrast, the opening scene establishes his special skills, hearing, knowledge of the animals and their habits. His natural intelligence is in stark contrast to Pitfords’ scientific learning.
His sympathy and warmth towards the animals he nurtures, and by extension his humanity, is most acutely realized on page 125 when Eugenia is catching “specimens” and using the Latin names for dragonflies and by contrast Walter finishes his speech on why he uses ferrets with the tender phrase, ‘An’ yes, they’re pretty creatures.’
I enjoyed the book very much. The story unfolded well with a great climax and twist at the end, the dialog was perfectly pitched and believable and the characters inhabited a credible world that I cared about.
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Aug 04, 2017 Ali rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub-read

A clever idea of using old receipts and names to put together a fantastical account of how weasels, ferrets and stoats arrived in New Zealand. The first chapter was highly descriptive and very bloodthirsty, but it certainly set the scene in regards to Mr Allbones and his love for his ferrets. However I am giving it two stars as I just didn't enjoy the book. It was clever, but I was unable to engage with the characters or care for them. ...more

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Oct 30, 2015 Cass rated it liked it · review of another edition

I was looking for a book about New Zealand for my reading challenge--a place I'd like to visit. So I googled books about New Zealand and this one came up. But it does not take place in New Zealand at all--just the last page--but in England in the late 1870's. Walter Allbones is a poor uneducated young man who takes care of his sister and the little'un's when his mother dies. He works menial labor jobs when they are available and supplements their food with rabbits poached from the manor land. Wa ...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Penny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 is the real rating. I loved the writing. Fiona Farrell puts words together so well. She can create an atmosphere and voice within a short amount of sentences. The only way this could have been better would have been to hear her read it (an opportunity you must take if you get the chance). But as to did I like it? That's hard. The subject matter disgusts me. She's taken the facts of the matter, perhaps the stupidest thing ever to happen to New Zealand - man introducing weasels, ferrets and st ...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Denise rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Mr. Allbones' Ferrets is the story of what happens when a wealthy natural scientist, Pitford, and and a poor, but intelligent peasant, Allbones, join forces to help New Zealand conquer its rabbit problem. Enter Eugenia, Pitford's delicate, beautiful, but also curious and intelligent granddaughter. Then Fowler an enormous, evil bully gets in on the game.

Part natural history, part social commentary, part love story this slim novel manages to be many things at once. Its gruesome at times with graph ...more

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Aug 06, 2009 Maria Elmvang rated it liked it

Shelves: 2009, 3-stars, arc, owned-physical-book, historical-fiction

Very different from what I had expected. The story of how ferrets were introduced to New Zealand fauna, the writing style and genre reminded me a lot more of the emigration novels written at the turn of the last century than anything recent.

I was a bit hesitant about the story to begin with, but have to admit it grew on me. I really liked Walter Allbones, and wanted to learn more about him. The other characters were nothing special though - not very well fleshed out at all, and stereotypes were ...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Elizabeth added it · review of another edition

Shelves: never-finished

only got partway into this and would have been more interested after I was in NZ and really understood the role of ferrets there!

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Aug 28, 2009 Leah rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Vegans: do not read! This is a vile book. I have yet to find another author who so luxuriates in the abuse and murder of animals.

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Apr 09, 2012 Tim rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, novel, new, zealand, england, animal, husbandry, acclimatisation, romance, science

My review of Mr Allbones' Ferrets by Fiona Farrell has now appeared in Landfall Review Online:[return][return]http://landfallreviewonline.blogspot.... ...more

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Sep 15, 2009 Jaime rated it liked it · review of another edition

Apparently a runaway hit in Australia, if the book jacket is to be believed. This was a good story and I enjoyed the natural history insight. Still, the plot lacked some depth.

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