While You’re Waiting…

Newsletter #15

While You’re Waiting…

I’m making you wait a long time for this book. Sorry about that.

In the meantime, how about a couple of book recommendations to keep you going?

Not reviews, because I think rave reviews can be a bit pointless, and poor reviews a bit heartless. But a straightforward “I enjoyed this, and you might too” seems like a good idea.

So, here are two very different books, recommended for two very different reasons.

Outback by Michael Davies

Many years ago, when I was twelve or so, and everyone else was reading Alistair MacLean and Hammond Innes, I was reading Desmond Bagley – unabashed adventure stories featuring decent chaps getting themselves in and out of a whole heap of trouble.  

My favourite, re-read many times, was High Citadel, about the survivors of an Andean plane crash fighting for survival against the elements and a bunch of bad guys. Loved it.

So, I was delighted to hear recently that an unfinished Bagley had been found, and that a friend of mine, Michael Davies, had somehow wrangled for himself the task of preparing it for publication. That book, Domino Island, came out in 2019, and did very well – there are obviously more than a few of us old Bagley fans out there.

As Desmond Bagley hadn’t left more unfinished novels lying around, the publishers asked Michael if he fancied writing one. And thus Outback was born, featuring the further adventures of Domino Island‘s Bill Kemp.

Michael let me in on an early outline of the story – a typical Desmond Bagley tale of desperate hi-jinks in the back of beyond. In this case, the outback of Australia, and beyond the reach of mobile phones. It’s been great to watch the story progress, and to see and read the final product, which turns out to be great fun, and everything my youthful self would have wanted. Can’t wait for the next Bill Kemp Adventure!

The eBook and the hardback were published on 11 May 2023. The paperback comes out later in the year. 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I guess it makes sense that I would promote Outback – it’s new, it’s written by a mate, and I watched it take its first baby steps.

So, why on earth is my other recommendation a book written over 160 years ago, by one of the world’s most famous authors? It’s not news, and he doesn’t exactly need me to push his wares.

Well, the thing is, I watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series recently. It was written by the excellent screenwriter behind Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight. And it too was called Great Expectations.

I just wouldn’t want you to mistake one for the other.

I’m chary of criticising other screenwriters in public, especially ones who are so much more talented and successful than me. But honestly, Steven. What were you thinking?

I had been really looking forward to it. The cast looked brilliant. The screenwriter knows his stuff. It was by the BBC. What could go wrong? Yes, there was some fuss about colour-blind casting, and a bit of swearing, but I’m not averse to either of those. Quite keen, in fact.

But my son will tell you that I watched Episode 1 in a state of shock. I couldn’t watch Episode 2. I followed press coverage of the remaining episodes from afar, and was then drawn back, fascinated, to watch the final episode. Just to see what further horrors had been inflicted on Dicken’s finest work.

Because Great Expectations – the book, that is – is absolutely brilliant. Definitely in my Top-Ten-Favourite-Ever list. Might even Pip the top spot. And I’m not going to tell you why it’s so good, or what it’s about, because I want those of you who haven’t yet read it to find out for yourselves.

Seriously. I know it’s Dickens, but give it a chance. Stick with it, and it will stick to you. I first read it in my late teens, and have re-read it many times over.

What I will tell you is that it bears absolutely no resemblance to the TV series of the same name. 

Truth to tell, the final episode was quite entertaining, but there was not one scene, not one single plot detail, not one line of dialogue, not a single character trait or relationship that Dickens would have recognised. Not one.

I’ll tell you what it made me think of…

Imagine a puppet theatre, with all the sets and all the puppets you need to tell the story of Great Expectations. There’s a Young Pip puppet, and an Adult Pip puppet. There’s Magwitch and Miss Havisham and Jaggers and Joe. And the sets – there’s the cold, windswept marsh, the cobweb-entangled Satis House, and the river, moody and bleak. 

Imagine that someone had found this puppet theatre and all the puppets, with their names attached. But they’d never read the book. So, they just made something up. They used characters who looked like Dicken’s characters, and had the same names, and they set their story in the same dramatic locations. But everything else had to be invented from scratch.

That’s what Great Expectations looked like on the BBC.

I’m too emotionally involved to tell you whether it was any good. 

But it most definitely wasn’t Dickens.

Which is why I feel the need to recommend the book to you. Just in case you saw the TV Series, and got the wrong end of the stick.

As always, if you’ve enjoyed this Newsletter, and if you have like-minded, book-reading, story-loving friends who might enjoy it too, please do pass it on to them. They sound like just the kind of person I’d love to share this journey with. 

Let’s sign them up at subscribepage.io/paulcmercer.

All the best