Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones

I received this book as a birthday present this month and immediately gobbled it up - and absolutely loved it. The author, Lloyd Jones, was unfamiliar to me and I'd heard nothing about the book prior to reading it. The novel is set in the 1990s on a remote tropical island in the South Pacific, Bougainville, which has been torn by war, and follows our young protagonist Matilda, who lives with her mother in an impoverished yet close-knit community. Her father departed some years earlier for Australia for a job in Townsville, but still sends the occasional letter or postcard and the hope of his return hangs in the air. 

The only white man on the island and the village recluse, Mr Watts, known to the children as 'Pop Eye', takes up the position of the school teacher, to the villagers' initial amusement and bewilderment. Yet once he has established a level of friendship and respect with the children, he begins to read Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations to them, just a chapter per day. Enraptured by the story and the tale of Pip’s progression from poor child to wealthy gentleman, the children begin to live the story written by the mysterious Mr Dickens and it consumes their lives with hope of a better life for themselves, much like the protagonist they read about. Their parents are initially suspicious but soon the villagers are encouraged to share their own tales and let their imaginations run wild with the influence of the infamous Mr Dickens. 

Meanwhile the small island is descending into civil war as the islanders are protesting environmental impacts and the poor payment of landowners of the copper mines, and armed soldiers (or "redskins" as they are known to the villagers) begin to carry out sweeps of the village. When they discover the powerful teachings of the white man, the threat of knowledge and ambition begins to create concern and trouble ensues. There are some graphic and violent moments during the book which really shock and disgust, but ultimately paints a picture of the power of literature and the dangers of having dreams and hopes in a landscape corrupted by politics and gripped by fear. This fairly short novel was beautifully written and extremely moving.