Mister Pip

‘One of the best books of the year! Poetic, heartbreaking, surprising. Matilda is a young girl in Bougainville, a tropical island where the horror of civil war lurks. Mr. Watts, the only white person, is the self appointed teacher of the tiny school where the only textbook is the Dickens novel Great Expectations. Storytelling, imagination, courage, beauty, memories and sudden violence are the main elements of this extraordinary book.’

– Isabel Allende
‘New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones’s spare, haunting fable explores the power and limitations of art…’

* Washington Post *
‘Matilda is in the tradition of Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn, conjuring up an adult world before she can fully understand it; and Mister Pip is a poignant and impressive work which can take its place alongside the classic novels of adolescence.’
* Times Literary Supplement *
Jones’ epigraph is Umberto Eco’s “Characters migrate”. They do. Read this novel and Mr Watts, and perhaps Matilda, will migrate instantly into your heart.’

– Helen Elliott * Age *
‘For so brutal a reminder of atrocities so close to home, this is still an oddly satisfying book that goes on resonating long after you get to the end.’
– Kerryn Goldsworthy * Sydney Morning Herald *
‘As compelling as a fairytale—beautiful, shocking and profound.’
– Helen Garner
‘This prizewinning novel by New Zealand author Jones is an eloquent homage to the power of storytelling.’
– Joanne Wilkinson * STARRED Review, Booklist *
‘A little Gauguin, a bit of Lord Jim, the novel’s lyricism evokes great beauty and great pain.’

* Kirkus Reviews *
‘Jones tactfully handles the confrontation between Mr Watts and Matilda’s mother, aware that the mesmeric qualities of literature can be dangerous as well as redemptive. Only through Great Expectations does Matilda learn to see grown-ups as they really are. Morally subtle, Mister Pip has none of the arid cleverness that mars novels about books, making it a worthy winner of this year’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.’

– Jonathan Beckman * Daily Mail *
‘Lloyd Jones brings to life the transformative power of fiction … The experience of reading in this book is tangible …This is a beautiful book, It is tender, multi-layered and redemptive’

– Lucy Atkins * Sunday Times *
‘A novel about reading and writing and their impact on people’s lives that can be read with pleasure by someone who has never known the power of Charles Dickens, or Great Expectations, and still make them hunger for more… Its fable-like quality is spellbinding; the depth of its insights compelling.’
* Canberra Times *
‘Sad, beautiful, poignant, moving and honest, this is a remarkable book.’ * Good Book Guide *
‘Capturing a place and a conflict and a whole set of personalities, conjuring love amidst devastating violence.’ * Michael Winkler, ArtsHub *

Lloyd Jones is one of New Zealand’s best known contemporary writers. He has published essays and children’s books, but his best known works include the novels:

• The Book of Fame, winner of numerous literary awards
• Biografi, a New York Times Notable Book
• Choo Woo
• Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance
• Paint Your Wife
• HandMe Down World
• Mister Pip, winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Montana Medal for Fiction, and the Kiriyama Writers’ Prize. Mister Pip was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007.

He lives in the Wairarapa.

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