The Mill for Grinding Old People Young - Softcover

Patterson, Glenn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571281850 ISBN 13: 9780571281855

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2013

Synopsis

In the cold dawn of Christmas Day 1897, Gilbert Rice, 85 years old and with failing health, recounts his journey into manhood in a city on the cusp of great change.

Belfast in the 1830s was a city in flux. Industrialisation had led to an increase in commerce and the rapid swell of the population as workers flocked to the newly created jobs. Gilbert, a young man with prospects, begins work with the Ballast Office, looking after Belfast Port. Beneath the shadow of the Harland & Wolff shipyard Gilbert explores this ever expanding and exciting city whilst becoming aware of the political undertones and the sectarian tensions that still brew beneath its respectable veneer. In a city that still resonates with the legacy of the 1798 Rebellion Gilbert begins to question the injustices that he sees. When he meets Maria, a Polish barmaid, he is drawn into a love affair that will drive him to make a stand against those he sees as harming the city that he loves.

About this title

Review:

'The mark of successful historical fiction is that it has unforced resonances for the time it is being read in. The Mill for Grinding Old People Young is such a novel . . . [the] mix of the real and the imagined gives Patterson s novel both depth and charge . . . In Gilbert Rice he has created a humane hero for his times as well as ours.' --Mary Morrisey, Irish Times

'Gilbert Rice is as complex a figure as Patterson has created. His life embodies the art of deception; he debunks stereotype; and the voice of the older Gilbert, the voice of the prose, contains all the nuance of one whose life has run the gamut from disappointment to achievement. The last dozen pages change voice and direction, framing Gilbert in others words. They bring completion to the story, along with a sense of documentary authenticity and pathos and a true sense of real lives lived.' --Tom Adair, Scotsman

'Northern Ireland's best novelist . . . [a] boisterous yet touching tale.' --Sunday Herald

'As with all good love stories, you care what happens to the characters . . . to give away the ending would be a disservice to Patterson, whose solid craftsmanship is evident throughout . . . he has fashioned a love story in which two people from wildly different backgrounds are thrown together in circumstances that will transform their lives.' --David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

'[His] finest novel. The narrator's voice is a triumph.' --Guardian

'Beautifully crafted . . . Inspired by real people and places, this novel offers a view of the city that most Dubliners will never have seen before, and it s a sight for sore eyes, and a joy besides.' --Irish Times

Book Description:

The Mill for Grinding Old People Young, by Glenn Patterson, is at once a novel about a young man who is caught up in the political fever of the times and a love story about discovering who you are and how you define yourself.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0571281850
• ISBN 13: 9780571281855
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272