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The Call of the Cormorant

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( 39 ratings, 8 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Call of the Cormorant tells the story of Karl Einarsson, a serial swindler from the windswept Faroe Islands in the late nineteenth century. Believing himself destined for art and adventure, Karl leaves for Denmark to reinvent himself. His life spirals into a series of scams that reach as far as 1930s Berlin, where his indifference during the Nazi rise to power becomes a form of complicity. This historical fiction, based on true events, explores themes of identity, deceit, and the tension between leaving home and staying behind.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers who enjoy historical fiction with complex characters, true stories adapted with literary flair, and narratives set in early 20th-century European history. Suitable for those interested in themes of identity, deception, and the human impact of political upheaval.

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From the author of the prize-winningΒ As the Women Lay DreamingΒ comes a remarkable β€˜unreliable biography’ of Karl KjerΓΊlf Einarsson: an artist and an adventurer, a charlatan and a swindler, forever in search of Atlantis.

Saraband

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

"Full of memorable images and singing lines of prose." on Donald S. Murray's previous work

From the author of the multi award-winning Scottish bestseller As the Women Lay Dreaming comes the remarkable unreliable biography of serial swindler Karl Einarsson.

As a child of the late nineteenth century in the North Atlantic's windswept, fog-bound Faroe Islands, Karl Einarsson grows up believing he is superior to his peers, destined for a life of art and adventure. As soon as he is old enough, he sets out for Denmark and begins his own reinvention.

Once untethered from his past, Einarsson's lies begin to spiral. He begins a life of serial scamming, swindling everyone from fishermen to aristocrats. He has set his sights on Atlantis, but when his schemes find him in 1930s Berlin, for the first time Einarsson is forced to reckon with something bigger than himself. As the Nazis rise to power around him, his indifference becomes unwitting complicity, and even betrayal.

Based on the true story of Karl Einarsson's life, this is an outlandish tale of island claustrophobia, of those who leave and those who stay behind, and the many dangers of delusions, deceit, and false identities.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for lyrical and descriptive writing, The Call of the Cormorant is described as a richly detailed historical novel, with one reviewer calling the author a 'bard and consummate storyteller'.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781913393540

Publisher: Saraband

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 20 October 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Saraband

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Donald S Murray is a bilingual writer, poet and teacher whose work has been awarded numerous prizes, includingThe Society of Authors' Paul Torday Memorial PrizeandThe Callum Macdonald Memorial Award at Scotland's National Book Awards.His acclaimed books bring to life the culture and nature of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and heappears regularly at literary festivals and onBBC Radio.

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