The Wake

Winner of the Gordon Burn Prize 2014 and The Bookseller Industry Book of the Year Award 2015. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Folio Prize and shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize.A post-apocalyptic novel set a thousand years ago, The Wake tells the story of Buccmaster of Holland, a free farmer of Lincolnshire, owner of three oxgangs, a man clinging to the Old Gods as the world changes drastically around him. After losing his sons at the Battle of Hastings and his wife and home to the invading Normans, Buccmaster begins to gather together a band of'grene men', who take up arms to resist their brutal invaders. Written in a'shadow tongue'– a version of Old English updated so as to be understandable for the modern reader – The Wake is a landmark in historical fiction and looks set to become a modern classic. Everyone Knows The Date Of The Battle Of Hastings. Far Fewer People Know What Happened Next...set In The Three Years After The Norman Invasion, The Wake Tells The Story Of A Fractured Band Of Guerilla Fighters Who Take Up Arms Against The Invaders. Carefully Hung On The Known Historical Facts About The Almost Forgotten War Of Resistance That Spread Across England In The Decade After 1066, It Is A Story Of The Brutal Shattering Of Lives, A Tale Of Lost Gods And Haunted Visions, Narrated By A Man Of The Lincolnshire Fens Bearing Witness To The End Of His World. Written In What The Author Describes As 'a Shadow Tongue' - A Version Of Old English Updated So As To Be Understandable For The Modern Reader - The Wake Renders The Inner Life Of An Anglo-saxon Man With An Accuracy And Immediacy Rare In Historical Fiction. To Enter Buccmaster's World Is To Feel Powerfully The Sheer Strangeness Of The Past. Paul Kingsnorth. ... It Is Written Instead In What Might Be Called A Shadow Tongue - A Pseudo-language By Combining Some Of Its Vocabulary And Syntax With The English We Speak Today--page 353. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 361-364). "Everyone knows the date of the Battle of Hastings. Far fewer people know what happened next ... Set in the three years after the Norman invasion, The Wake tells the story of a fractured band of guerilla fighters who take up arms against the invaders. Carefully hung on the known historical facts about the almost forgotten war of resistance that spread across England in the decade after 1066, it is a story of the brutal shattering of lives, a tale of lost gods and haunted visions, narrated by a man of the Lincolnshire fens bearing witness to the end of his world. Written in what the author describes as 'a shadow tongue' -- a version of Old English updated so as to be understandable for the modern reader -- The Wake renders the inner life of an Anglo-Saxon man with an accuracy and immediacy rare in historical fiction. To enter Buccmaster's world is to feel powerfully the sheer strangeness of the past"--Provided by publisher After his sons are killed at the Battle of Hastings and his family and farm are destroyed by the Norman invaders, Buccmaster leads a group of fighters on a quest of revenge.