Product Description

This novel tells two parallel stories: one of three eccentric Englishmen who set sail for Tasmania to find the garden of Eden; the other of a young Tasmanian aborigine and his tribe, struggling against the invading British, who prove as lethal in their good intentions as in their cruelty.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #129862 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 480 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Christopher Columbus was looking for a passage to India when he ran full-tilt into the Americas. One of the narrators of Matthew Kneale's ambitious historical novel English Passengers has more modest aspirations: Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley wants only to smuggle a little tobacco, brandy and French pornography from the Isle of Mann to a secluded beach in England. Yet somehow in the process he and his crew end up weighing anchor for Australia. Worse, they are forced to carry three temperamental Englishmen bound for Tasmania on a mission to discover the exact location of the Garden of Eden. The year is 1857, and the study of geology is beginning to make serious inroads into areas of religious doctrine; when the Reverend Geoffrey Wilson runs across a scientific treatise that puts the age of Silurian Limestone somewhere in the neighbourhood of 100,000 years, he is scandalised: "This was despite the fact that the Bible tells, and with great clarity, that the earth was created a mere six thousand years ago". His many attempts to prove the Bible's accuracy lead, eventually, to a scientific expedition comprising himself, Timothy Renshaw, a dilettante botanist, and Dr Thomas Potter.

Now jump back 30 years, to 1828, when a revolution of sorts is stirring on the island of Tasmania. Over the years white settlers have been encroaching on aboriginal land and relations have deteriorated into violence. At the heart of the action is Peevay, a young man abandoned by his aborigine mother, who had been kidnapped and raped by a white escaped convict. Now his vengeful mother is leading a war against the whites, and Peevay, desperate to win her love, has joined her. Chapters from the past narrated by Peevay and augmented by letters and dispatches from white settlers alternate with the sections told by Kewley, Wilson, Renshaw and Potter. Eventually, of course, the two timelines intersect with momentous results.

War, mutiny, shipwreck and not a little farce make English Passengers a gripping read, but it is Matthew Kneale's literary ventriloquism that renders it remarkable. In a novel with so many different points of view, the individuality of each voice stands out. There is, for instance, the mutinous Dr Potter, whose descent into paranoia and egomania results in diary entries reminiscent of a 19th-century psychotic Bridget Jones: "Manxmen = treacherous even to v. last. Self heard Brew (lashed to mainmast as per usual) instructing helmsman to steer N.N.W. when self questioned he re. this he claiming we = carried into Bay of Biscay by difficult sea currents + must set course to avoid Breton Peninsular. He pointing to distant point of land to N.N.E. claiming this = Brittany. Self = doubtful".

Perhaps the most compelling voice in English Passengers belongs to Peevay, who paints a vivid picture of aboriginal life in a foreign tongue he nonetheless makes his own:

When we sat so in the dark, after our eating, Tartoyen told us stories--secret stories that I will not say even now--about the moon and sun, and how everyone got made, from men and wallaby to seal and kangaroo rat and so. Also he told who was in those rocks and mountains and stars, and how they went there. Until, by and by, I could hear stories as we walked across the world, and divine how it got so, till I knew the world as if he was some family fellow of mine.

By the close of this epic tale, the world Peevay knew has gone forever, and the lives of the Manx sailors and English passengers have been irrevocably changed. Based on real events in Tasmanian history, Matthew Kneale's novel delivers a home truth about Australia's brutal colonial past, even as it conveys the wonder and allure of the age of exploration. --Alix Wilber

From the Publisher
What the press have had to say about English Passengers:
"A book shouting with life...a novel that would be intriguing just for its ambition, but is deeply impressive in the fine grain of its achievement. Every page fizzes with linguistic invention, and the interleaving of high comedy with dramatic terror is expertly handled... English Passengers deserves to be welcomed into port with a riot of bunting and prizes." The Guardian

"An engrossing, deftly constructed, seious but very readable book...a very impressive performance: angry and ironic by turns, and confident enough to let the story speak for itself." The Sunday Telegraph

"Kneale covers a lot of ground, but the meticulously researched historical details and background are artfully deployed and always keep the novel afloat rather than threatening to sink it. What is really striking about the novel, however, is its structure and technique...A jolly good yarn, a careful and vivid historical re-enactment and, above all, a tour de force of technical control and stamina." The Spectator

"[A] breathtakingly good novel...funny, savage, compassionate, a brilliant enactment of ideological clashes and the opportunism and sacrifice of the colonial adventure, this is a big, mind-expanding book in every respect." Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail

"A dashing historical novel, grand in conception but carefully and steadily executed...one of the most impressive things about English Passengers is the extent to which it revives our interest in history and truth...The voices and information that crowd English Passengers have been marshalled to support a compelling adventure story with subversive undertones...expertly told." The Times

"One of the most enjoyable and interesting reads I have had in a long time... One of the most shameful events in the history of the British Empire...is fearlessly explored with clear-sighted intelligence and unfliching imagination...English Passengers is a fascinating story, richly told: a major work by a major talent." The Independent

"An engrossing and enjoyable read, the sort of novel that few comptemporary writers have either the imagination or the stamina to sustain." The Daily Telegraph

"Triumphant...Although it contains much that is harrowing, English Passengers is also often hilarious. Tart wit generates caustically funny scences. Relishably ironic fates are dealt out to the book's more dislikeable characters...From Patrick White and Thomas Kenneally to David Malouf and Peter Carey, colonial Australia has been fortunate in the quality of its literary chroniclers...English Passengers takes Kneale into this distinguished company." Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times

"Fantastic. One of the best books I've read since we started doing this programme. It's an absolute cracker. Run out everbody and get copies." - Susan Jeffries, Saturday Review, BBC Radio 4

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Customer Reviews

Tasmanian devils indeed
As an Australian now living and working in London, I relished the prospect of reading a book about 'home', albeit a historical one. I remain part of a global 'book-club' that started in Sydney 5 years ago and which continues today with 2 people in Sydney, one in Dublin and myself in London. All done by email of course (how 2000) and yet we unanimously chose to read "English Passengers" for November as part of our yearly tradition of reading one of the non-winning Booker Prize nominees. And to remind some of us about home!

The verdict? I 'loved it' initially but with the passage of time, I will say that I 'really enjoyed' it. "English Passengers" is one of those books that gains most from the immediacy of reading it and conjuring up fantastic and colourful images as you turn the page. After a few weeks however, it seems more like a surreal novel or experience.

Which is not to detract from my ultimate view that this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The story of a boat load of English passengers making their way half-way across the globe on a Manx boat ostensibly to discover the Garden of Eden in Tasmania (and other not-so worthy eugenic finds) is both ludicrous and brilliantly imaginative at once.

Above all, Matthew Kneale knows how to carry a complex narrative using a mix of diverse characters (20 at last count) relating their personal experiences and views at random. A unique approach to presenting aspects of Australia's early (and not so proud) history and Kneale certainly does an admirable job of 'capturing' voices as diverse as the Manx ship captain (world weary but wise), convicts at Port Arthur (brutal but with cause) and especially the Aborigine Peevay and his warrior-like mother (oppressed but dignified and defiant). Their individual thoughts and perspectives somehow unite by the end to present a damning and cutting opinion about the early convict settlements in Tasmania.

Kneale lets his characters present their points of view as a means of demonstrating the true horrors perpetuated against convicts, settlers and indigenous people alike by the colnial masters. He also maintains a very personal style of writing to slowly reveal his character's thoughts and emotions thereby cleverly showing up the true horrors inflicted in the name of 'progress'.

In particular, I enjoyed the way in which Peevay maintains his voice and fluency throughout (even though it is written as a form of stilted English as Kneale imagines an Aborigine might have used to express his thoughts) whilst the evil Dr Potter descends into madder rantings and bilious commentary as he persists with his racist theories. Coupled with the equally insane descent by the good Reverend Wilson, Kneale's wonderful narrative device demonstrates clearer than any polemic or sermon the absolute folly and misplaced 'goodness' inherent in the colonial mindset as it ran rampage over the indigenous population. His simple story telling and careful construction of the absurd voyage of discovery vividly shows how the catastrophe that affected Tasmania (and by extension Australia) occured.

The book is therefore a subtle and clever dig at Tasmania's (and Australia's) not so illustrious past. It is clear that Kneale has researched his topic very well but without descending into monolgues or the actual specifics about the numerous injustices against both convicts and Aborigines. Yet the book is never morose - the convict protaganists are as feisty and strong as Peevay and his mother. Tragic characters all but not to be pitied. And in highlighting both the folly and cruelty of the convict settlements almost as much as the Aboriginal tragedy, Kneale cleverly displays an even-handedness which cannot be easily disputed or criticised.

"English Passengers" certainly made me think about Australia's past in a fresh light (even though we all should be aware of the Aboriginal genocide in Tasmania) and given its style and plot development, there is a lot to be said for placing the book on school curriculums soon - both in Australia and elsewhere - as a means of trying to reconcile different cultural backgrounds and histories which experienced different but nevertheless devastating results.

So many different characters to enjoy!
I have just finished reading "English Passengers". It took me a while to read it (5 weeks), as I tend to read in bed and fall asleep after a few pages. However, a book like this, which has many diffent voices contributing to it, is perfect for this stop-start sort of reading as you never lose the flow of the story. And what a story it is! I was greatly amused by the Reverend Wilson, touched and saddened by the fate of Peevay and the Palawa, horrified at Dr. Potter and the dreadful ideas he had, given so much credence in the 19th century. Mixed in with these stories was the farce of the Manxmen and their escapes from real and imagined arrest. By the third third of the book, I had given up reading it in bits - I was so intrigued as to how it was all going to end, I read in in a oner! If you have also enjoyed this book, I would recommend "The Birthday Boys" by Beryl Bainbridge, as "English Passengers" reminded me of it a bit. It is about the ill-fated adventure to the South Pole undertaken in 1912 by Captain Scott.

A crucible of 19th century themes
I found English Passengers to be hilarious, revealing, poignant and shocking but most of all, a masterly example of the use of multiple points of view. As I am a Tasmanian, I am well acquainted with the facts of what happened to the indigenous people and particularly enjoyed the narratives of the governors and their wives. However, the most revealing and enduring section would have to be the wholly authentic letter which the author found in the Tas. Archives office. That is a document which deserves to be more widely known and not only for what it says about the education of indigenous peoples. Wilson's determination to disprove geology reminds me very much of Gosse's 'Father & Son', although Kneale's treatment is much more satirical and ascerbic, of course. Then there is the theme of inland exploration and trade and Manx/Irish/Scots versus English; there is also the preoccupation of the colonies to become as civilised and respectable as possible, through reproducing English villages and towns; there is also the conflict between the patronising Rousseauean theories of indigenous peoples and the assumption that all non whites are ignorant savages at best and quaint children at best. This is best illustrated through Potter's astonishment at Peevay's ability to pursue and pick off the exploration party throughout the west/south west of Tasmania. Kneale's research is very impressive and he was well advised to seek the assistance of Cassandra Pybus who has the ability to cut through much of the denial and extremism of Australian historical study. As I hold great store by Penelope Lively's reviews, it was a good idea of the publishers to print her judgement on the back cover. It persuaded me to part with $35 and I have not regretted it. Two points:1. Why wasn't this novel launched in Tasmania? (If the answer is that the philistine Tasmanian government wasn't interested, I wouldn't be surprised) 2.Did Peter Kemp of the Sunday Times really use the so-called words, 'scences' and 'dislikeable'? If he did, I hope he won't be invited to provide any more reviews to said paper!