Throw Me to the Wolves
Published on 27. August 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-5291-1060-9 (ISBN)
Description
**WINNER OF THE ENCORE AWARD 2020**
'This is literary fiction as it should be: in stylish, surprising, lyrical sentences we are forced to confront the hidden power structures, public and private, that control our everyday lives' The Times
A young woman has been murdered, and a neighbour, a retired teacher from Chapleton College, is arrested. An eccentric loner - intellectual, shy, a fastidious dresser with expensive tastes - he is the perfect candidate for a media monstering.
In custody he is interviewed by two detectives: the smart-talking, quick-witted Gary, and his watchful colleague, Ander. Ander is always watchful, but particularly now, because the man across the table is his former teacher - Michael Wolphram - whom he hasn't seen in nearly 30 years.
As the novel proceeds, we watch Wolphram's media lynching as ex-pupils and colleagues line up to lie about him. In parallel, we read Ander's memories of his life as a young Dutch boy in 80s England. Another outsider, another loner in a school system rife with abuse and bullying, Ander has another case to solve: the cold case of his own childhood.
Though it deals with historical abuse and violence in schools, and the corrupt power of the popular media, Throw Me to the Wolves is about childhood and memory. A perceptive and pertinent novel of our times, beautifully written and psychologically acute, it manages to be both very funny and - at the same time - shatteringly sad.
*LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER 2020*
*A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020*
'This is literary fiction as it should be: in stylish, surprising, lyrical sentences we are forced to confront the hidden power structures, public and private, that control our everyday lives' The Times
A young woman has been murdered, and a neighbour, a retired teacher from Chapleton College, is arrested. An eccentric loner - intellectual, shy, a fastidious dresser with expensive tastes - he is the perfect candidate for a media monstering.
In custody he is interviewed by two detectives: the smart-talking, quick-witted Gary, and his watchful colleague, Ander. Ander is always watchful, but particularly now, because the man across the table is his former teacher - Michael Wolphram - whom he hasn't seen in nearly 30 years.
As the novel proceeds, we watch Wolphram's media lynching as ex-pupils and colleagues line up to lie about him. In parallel, we read Ander's memories of his life as a young Dutch boy in 80s England. Another outsider, another loner in a school system rife with abuse and bullying, Ander has another case to solve: the cold case of his own childhood.
Though it deals with historical abuse and violence in schools, and the corrupt power of the popular media, Throw Me to the Wolves is about childhood and memory. A perceptive and pertinent novel of our times, beautifully written and psychologically acute, it manages to be both very funny and - at the same time - shatteringly sad.
*LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER 2020*
*A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020*
Reviews / Votes
Throw Me to the Wolves is, on the face of it, a made-for-TV procedural police drama... Scratch the surface, however, and all of Britain's restless undercurrents are churning away... this is literary fiction as it should be: in stylish, surprising, lyrical sentences we are forced to confront the hidden power structures, public and private, that control our everyday lives. It's reminiscent of Edward St Aubyn, not only in its pillorying of the elite, but the pleasure McGuinness takes in having his characters say clever things. It's also a proper page-turner. -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times * This is a writer worth knowing... [McGuinness] combines elegant prose with caustic commentary on romance, education and crime... most people can write for a lifetime and not produce so perfect a sentence. -- Patrick Anderson * Washington Post * Blisteringly effective, written with an almost hallucinogenic clarity... Throw Me to the Wolves is intensely powerful. -- Justine Jordon * Guardian * An extraordinary writer of great compassion, McGuinness combines a mesmerising crime novel with a forensic look at the brutalising mechanisms of the British Public School system. Stunning. -- Denise Mina An absorbing novel... on virtually every page, there are perfectly judged descriptions that reveal something about the world. * Financial Times * This second novel from Man Booker-longlisted McGuinness is a compassionate, funny and ultimately moving indictment of the gutter press, social media and boarding schools. -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times * Throw Me to the Wolves could be described as a crime novel or as a State of the Nation novel. It fits into both those categories, but it offers much more than such convenient labels would suggest. It's a book seriously concerned with, and about, people who function on the fringe of society. Patrick McGuinness is an observant and reflective storyteller of a special kind. -- Paul Bailey A big, serious, elegantly written, darkly entertaining study of what school does to us, and how life afterwards can turn into a nightmare. McGuinness is a novelist of the old school, where the best and most lasting lessons were taught. -- John Banville Intelligent and troubling... [Throw Me To The Wolves] invites reflection about the state of morality today, about the lust for witch-hunts and the zeal to punish. -- Allan Massie * Scotsman * Brilliant. * Strong Words *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 191 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
272 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5291-1060-9 (9781529110609)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Born in Tunisia in 1968, Patrick McGuinness is the author of one previous novel, The Last Hundred Days, which was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the 2011 Costa First Novel Award and won the 2012 Wales Book of the Year Award. His other books include two collections of poems, The Canals of Mars (2004), and Jilted City (2010), and Other People's Countries (2015), which won the Duff Cooper Prize and was the Wales Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, where he lectures in French.