Haunting debut novel offers sharp critique of cultural appropriation
‘Whale Fall’ explores the tensions of an isolated and tightly knit community on the brink of change
Whale Fall, the haunting debut novel by Elizabeth O’Connor, draws readers into the remote and rugged world of a fictional Welsh island in 1938, on the cusp of World War 2. Based on an amalgamation of islands in the British Isles, it’s a place physically and culturally isolated from the world, where life is harsh and the small community tightly knit. That so many families have abandoned the island for the mainland, leaving “more empty houses on the island than inhabited ones”, increases that sense of dislocation.
The compact story begins with a beached whale: “The whale became stranded in the shallows of the island overnight, appearing from the water like a cat slinking under the door. No one noticed it: not the lighthouse with its halo of light on the water, or the night fishermen searching for whiting and sole, or the farmers moving cattle over the hill at dawn. The sheep on the cliffs were undisturbed.” ..
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