The Ventriloquist's Tale
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| Author | Pauline Melville |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Publication date | 1997 |
| Publication place | Guayana |
| Pages | 368 |
| ISBN | 1-58234-009-9 |
The Ventriloquist's Tale is a novel by British Guayanese author Pauline Melville, published in 1997 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The book follows an indigenous Guyanese family across several generations. The novel attracted generally positive reviews. It won the Whitbread First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.
Melville was partly inspired to write the novel after reading Evelyn Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust.[1]
Summary
The novel's plot focuses on a Wapishana family over the course of a century. A framing device is used, in which a present-day subsistence farmer named Chofy McKinnon moves from the bush to Guyana's capital city, Georgetown. The narrative explores McKinnon's ancestry. The ventriloquist, a being that is part bird, part spirit, provides commentary.