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"The fact of the matter is Joseph Kirkland was afraid. Afraid of not being Saved. Afraid of being Saved. Afraid of the transformation that would occur the moment he uttered those words, Jesus! God! I want you to come into my heart!" Blessed Assurance is a coming-of-age novel. It is set against the backdrop of a small close-knit evangelical community in the fictional Scottish village of Kilhaugh during a fog-bound December in the late nineteen-sixties when the Cold War was on the brink of turning hot. The story takes place over six soul-searching days in the life of Godfearing dog-thief and pyromaniac, eleven-year-old Joseph Kirkland, and his godless, devil-may-care best friend, Archie Truman, as the perpetually guilt-ridden Joseph attempts to put right what he believes to be the most terrible of lies. It is peopled with colourful characters, peppered with moments of tenderness, tragedy and occasional surreal humour. At its heart though, Blessed Assurance is an exploration of family, friendship, faith, loneliness and grief, and the compromises that sometimes have to be made to remain part of our community.
Format: Paperback / softbackCONTRIBUTORS: Stewart EnnisEAN: 9781908251923COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 0 gHEIGHT: 210 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Vagabond VoicesDATE PUBLISHED: 2019-11-18CITY: GENRE: FICTION / General, HUMOR / GeneralWIDTH: 140 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Central Scotland, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary, Humorous fiction
Stewart Ennis's debut novel hovers constantly between comedy and tragedy. Small-town Scotland is seen in perceptive detail through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy. Characters, like his fundamentalist Gran, like the unforgettable itinerant preacher, Benjamin Mutch, leap into our heads and take us over. Steeped in matters of faith and rejection the book offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into a past world which makes you turn the pages in a quest for answers. - Bernard MacLaverty; This, in a nuanced and theological sense, is a sectarian novel that manages to make life within a scripture-centred household appealing rather than appalling as stereotype would so often have it. We meet characters Mark Twain or Flannery O'Connor would have been proud to have begotten. ... Blessed Assurance's antecedents include The House with the Green Shutters, Gillespie and Docherty. More recent sources for comparison would be the work of Jeanette Winterson, James Robertson and the poet Iain Bamforth. The earnest, scab-scouring schoolboy dreamer and precocious would-be missionary, Joseph Kirkland, takes his well earned place amongst the many youthful savants and seers populating the coming-of-age stories that predominate in Caledonian letters. - Donny O'Rourke
Born in Bridge of Weir in 1961, Stewart Ennis began his career as a journalist and a nurse, but now works as a writer, actor,lecturer and occasional photographer. For several years he was creative writing lecturer at HMP Shotts and other Scottish prisons, and edited Visiting Time (Vagabond Voices, 2019), a collection of prison writing. He's had short stories and poems published in Gutter Magazine, The Curlew (Wales), The Caterpillar (Ireland) and various other anthologies. In 2019 he was awarded the Aberdeen-Curtin Alliance scholarship to study a PhD within the creative departments of Aberdeen University and Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Blessed Assurance is his first novel.
"The fact of the matter is Joseph Kirkland was afraid. Afraid of not being Saved. Afraid of being Saved. Afraid of the transformation that would occur the moment he uttered those words, Jesus! God! I want you to come into my heart!" Blessed Assurance is a coming-of-age novel. It is set against the backdrop of a small close-knit evangelical community in the fictional Scottish village of Kilhaugh during a fog-bound December in the late nineteen-sixties when the Cold War was on the brink of turning hot. The story takes place over six soul-searching days in the life of Godfearing dog-thief and pyromaniac, eleven-year-old Joseph Kirkland, and his godless, devil-may-care best friend, Archie Truman, as the perpetually guilt-ridden Joseph attempts to put right what he believes to be the most terrible of lies. It is peopled with colourful characters, peppered with moments of tenderness, tragedy and occasional surreal humour. At its heart though, Blessed Assurance is an exploration of family, friendship, faith, loneliness and grief, and the compromises that sometimes have to be made to remain part of our community.
Format: Paperback / softbackCONTRIBUTORS: Stewart EnnisEAN: 9781908251923COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 0 gHEIGHT: 210 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Vagabond VoicesDATE PUBLISHED: 2019-11-18CITY: GENRE: FICTION / General, HUMOR / GeneralWIDTH: 140 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Central Scotland, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary, Humorous fiction
Born in Bridge of Weir in 1961, Stewart Ennis began his career as a journalist and a nurse, but now works as a writer, actor,lecturer and occasional photographer. For several years he was creative writing lecturer at HMP Shotts and other Scottish prisons, and edited Visiting Time (Vagabond Voices, 2019), a collection of prison writing. He's had short stories and poems published in Gutter Magazine, The Curlew (Wales), The Caterpillar (Ireland) and various other anthologies. In 2019 he was awarded the Aberdeen-Curtin Alliance scholarship to study a PhD within the creative departments of Aberdeen University and Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Blessed Assurance is his first novel.
Die verhaal van die kasarm en die Calitze kom tot 'n mooi einde
Ek kan nie ’n boek summier toemaak nadat die slotsin geskryf is nie. Ek lees álles, tot by die outeursnotas en die bronnelys (gewoonlik gooi ek darem net vlugtig ’n oog oor die bonne!). Chanette Paul maak in die nota oor Maanschijnbaai 2, die verdere verhaal van Nan en Jeannie, die stelling: “Lesers moet my asseblief vergewe dat my verbeelding altyd die oorhand oor die werklikheid kry en verdigsel voorkeur bo feite.” (p.635) Ek wil daarby aanhaak en bieg dat ’n uitstekende verhoudingsroman soos hierdie tydelik die oorhand gekry het oor my traagheid om te lees oor reïnkarnasie en die esoteriese. Die klomp Calitzse het my tyd en aandag totaal gekaap.
Die skrywer wy die laaste bladsye aan ’n verduideliking oor hoe die Maanschijnbaai-tweeluik ontstaan het. Sy beweer dat die Calitze haar “onkant” betrap het. Sy wou ’n romanse skryf maar uiteindelik was die karakters so kompleks dat dit op twee dik boeke en ’n intense familiedrama uitgeloop het.
Van die onderskeie karakters raak diep waarhede kwyt wat die moeite werd is om te onderstreep en te onthou, soos Zach wat dit gehad het oor die risiko om iemand op ’n pedestal te plaas omdat jy daardeur die persoon ’n onreg aandoen. (p.539) En Nan, wat die hele klomp Calitze moes grootkry, se wyse raad: “Met eerlikheid, Jeannie, kom ’n mens baie verder as met opoffering. Met eerlikheid gee jy almal ’n regverdige kans. Opoffering beteken bloot jy doen iets teen jou sin omdat jy glo dit sal ander baat.” (p.613)
Maak seker dat jy genoeg tyd op hande het, dan lees jy hierdie tweeluik in volgorde, Jo & Sue, gevolg deur Nan & Jeannie. Dit is hersien en met splinternuwe, pragtige baadjies uitgegee deur Lapa Uitgewers.
A very practical approach and the tools to go along with it
Very useful. The book provides a structure and an approach that I would have been useful earlier in my investing. I like the five gates and in particular the attention to quality and management's capital allocation decisions. I will also apply the idea of the stewardship log to get more explicit on my investment theses. This is kind of the practical aspect of what I learned from the Psychology of Money.
the title ties in really nicley the more towards the end but the title for the book suits it real...
the book is very slow burn and takes a while for like captivating parts of the book .but the middle to the end the pace of the book is really nice the beginning is just repetitive and and trust the processes
Skuld en vergifnis word nie versuiker in hierdie jeugverhaal nie
Twee halwes maak ’n hele is die wenner van ’n jeugboekprys. Ek moes myself gedurig herinner wat die teikenmark nou eintlik is, want die sake wat aangeraak word, is geensins beperk tot jeugdige lesers nie. Die sterk newe-karakters dra daartoe by die selfs baie ouer lesers goed aanklank kan vind by die storielyn wat ontvou.
“Hulle sê as jy iemand vergewe, lig jy ’n vrag van daardie persoon se skouers af. Maar miskien is sommige dinge net te swaar om van iemand anders se skouers te lig?” (p.178) Baie aandag word gegee aan skuld en vergifnis, maar geen suikeromhulde kitsoplossings word aangebied nie. Dit sou die storie beslis vervlak het.
Na die aardskuddende ontdekking wat Lira gemaak het, gaan sy vir drie maande na ’n Griekse eiland en maak sy kennis met haar ander helfte, ’n halfsuster wat presies die teenoorgestelde is van haar eie ingetoë, overthinking self. Ek het daarvan gehou dat hulle, die verskille ten spyt, nie in heftige konflik was nie. Eerder besig om algaande te ontdek dat hulle by mekaar kan aanpas en albei sterker daardeur kan kom.
Marita van der Vyver is ’n waardige wenner van die Tafelberg Jeugboekprys en hierdie boek hoort beslis in van der Vyver versamelings. Dit is uitgegee deur Tafelberg, ’n druknaam van Jonathan Ball Uitgewers.
