Winner of the 2005 Dundee Book Prize, Whales for the Wizard tells the story of Robert Douglas who is employed by the owner of the steam-whaling ship Redgauntlet. His brief is to try to get mariners to sign articles to work on the progressive whaling ship through legal means, however Douglas finds this to be a hard task, as the superstitious seamen won’t set foot on her, due to the disaster that had befallen her sister ship Ivanhoe the year before.
After a ‘run in’ with a local ‘gangster’ Douglas finds himself crimped and wakes up on Redgauntlet sailing to the Arctic, with a mixed superstitious crew, who believe the ship is haunted.
When a series of events take place which replicate those of the stricken Ivanhoe, Douglas and the ship’s mate ‘Bully’ Houston begin to unravel the mystery of what had befallen Ivanhoe and her crew, and realize that they have a traitor aboard their ship.
Set in Dundee in 1860, and utilising real events in shipping history, Archibald has created a light hearted nauticial mystery, as well as a tribute to the works of Sir Walter Scott.
I really enjoyed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment