The Book of Ebenezer Le Page
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''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'' is a novel by English writer
Gerald Basil Edwards Gerald Basil Edwards (G. B. Edwards) (July 8, 1899 – December 29, 1976) was a British author. Biography Edwards was born in Vale, Guernsey, the son of Thomas Edwards, a quarry owner, by his wife Harriet (née Mauger). He served in the Roya ...
first published in the United Kingdom by
Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...
in 1981, and in the United States by
Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
in the same year. It has since been published by Penguin books and New York Review Books in their classics series, as well as in French and Italian. It is the fictionalised autobiography of an archetypal Guernseyman,
Ebenezer Le Page Ebenezer Le Page is the lead character in the novel ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'' by Gerald Basil Edwards, G. B. Edwards. The book takes the form of an autobiography of an Archetype, archetypal Guernseyman who lives through the dramatic changes ...
, who lives through the dramatic changes in the island of the
Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
,
Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
from the late nineteenth century, through to the 1960s.


Plot summary

Ebenezer was born in the late nineteenth century and dies in the early 1960s. He lived his whole life in the Vale. He is never married, despite a few flings with local girls, and a tempestuous relationship with Liza Queripel of Pleinmont. He only left the island once, to travel to
Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
to watch the
Muratti The Muratti Vase is an annual men's and women's football competition, inaugurated in 1905, between teams representing the Channel Islands of Alderney, Guernsey and Jersey. The larger islands of Guernsey and Jersey dominate the competition, wit ...
. For most of his life he was a grower and fisherman, although he also served in the North regiment of the
Royal Guernsey Militia The Royal Guernsey Militia has a history dating back 800 years. Always loyal to the British Crown, the men were unpaid volunteers whose wish was to defend the Island of Guernsey from foreign invaders. Militias were also created in the Bailiwick ...
(though not outside the island) and did some jobbing work for the
States of Guernsey The States of Guernsey (french: États de Guernesey), sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guern ...
in the latter part of his life. Guernsey is a microcosm of the world as Dublin is to James Joyce and
Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...
is to Hardy. After a life fraught with difficulties and full of moving episodes, Ebenezer is ready to die happy, bequeathing his pot of gold and autobiography ("The Book of Ebenezer Le Page") to the young artist he befriends, after an incident in which the latter smashed his greenhouse.


Characters

*
Ebenezer Le Page Ebenezer Le Page is the lead character in the novel ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'' by Gerald Basil Edwards, G. B. Edwards. The book takes the form of an autobiography of an Archetype, archetypal Guernseyman who lives through the dramatic changes ...
, tomato grower and fisherman * Alfred Le Page, quarryman, Ebenezer's father, killed in the
Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
* Charlotte Le Page, Ebenezer's mother, referred to throughout as "my mother" * Tabitha Le Page ('La Tabby'), Ebenezer's sister * Jean Batiste, Tabitha's husband, was killed in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
* Jim Mahy, Ebenezer's childhood friend, killed in World War I * Liza Queripel, the love of Ebenezer's life * William Le Page ('Uncle Willie'), Alfred's brother * Nathaniel Le Page ('Uncle Nat'), Ebenezer's mother's brother * Charlotte Le Page, Ebenezer's maternal grandmother * Henriette Le Page ('La Hetty'), Ebenezer's mother's sister * Priscille Le Page ('La Prissy'), Ebenezer's mother's sister * Harold Martel, builder, married Hetty * Percy Martel, Harold's brother and monumental builder married Prissy * Raymond Martel, son of Hetty and Harold * Horace Martel, eldest son of Percy and Prissy * Cyril Martel, youngest son of Percy and Prissy, died at age 5 * Christine Mahy, wife of Raymond (also the cousin of Jim) * Abel Martel, son of Raymond and Christine * Gideon Martel, son of Christine, as a result of an affair with Horace * Neville Falla, young biker and artist who befriends Ebenezer in his old age * Cousin Mary Ann, Ebenezer's third cousin (on both sides)


Real people mentioned in the book

* Adolphus Edward Alfred Carrington (1876~1961), 'manager for John Leale (Leale Ltd.) on the Bridge'. *
Ambrose Sherwill Sir Ambrose James Sherwill (12 February 1890 – 25 September 1968) was Bailiff of Guernsey from 1946 to 1959. In the early months of World War II, he helped in the administration of the Channel Islands when they were occupied by the Germans. ...
(1890~1968), President of the Controlling Committee during
Occupation of the Channel Islands The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany lasted for most of the Second World War, from 30 June 1940 until liberation on 9 May 1945. The Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey are two island countries and British ...
and later
Bailiff of Guernsey The title Bailiff of Guernsey has been used since at least the 13th century and indicated the leading citizen of Guernsey. The 90th and current Bailiff is Richard McMahon. History A ''Bailli'', the early Norman name for Bailiff was the perso ...
* Rev. John ('Jack') Leale (1892~1969),
Jurat The ''jurats'' () are lay people in Guernsey and Jersey who act as judges of fact rather than law, though they preside over land conveyances and liquor licensing. In Alderney, however, the jurats are judges of both fact and law (assisted by thei ...
, President of the Controlling Committee (Oct 1940~Aug 1945) during Occupation of the Channel Islands, knighted 1945 * Arthur Dorey (1867~1953), fruit grower, of Rockmount (Delancey); Ebenezer's boss who makes him a foreman at his vineries off the 'Halfway' (Belgrave, Marais, Springfield, Primrose). Arthur also owns Oatlands Farm with its own large vinery. Arthur was a Jurat and president of the Board of Administration. * Edward Arthur Dorey (1896~1982), mentioned as the son of the above, going to war in 1914, but unnamed in the book. Fruit grower; later owner of Arthur Dorey & Son, and Douzenier of St. Sampson. * Philemon Fleure Dorey (1859~1941), 'Mr. Dorey of Oatlands'; fruit grower; brother of Arthur Dorey (above), from whom he was renting Oatlands Farm during Ebenezer's childhood. * Clarrie Bellot, cobbler * Steve Picquet, a hermit who lived in a German bunker at Pleinmont * Frederick William Johns (1871~1957), 'Fred Johns from the Vale Avenue', trustee of St. Sampson's Chapel. * Douglas Blackburn, 'from the top of Sinclair', of 'Malvern', St Clair Hill, St. Sampson, son of fruit grower Henry J. Blackburn. * Dr. Josiah Leale (1842~c.1921), L.R.C.P. Edinburgh, M.R.C.S. London, St. Sampson's Parochial Medical Officer, of Vale House, Vale. Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel, 2nd Regt R.G.L.I.; resigned his medical rank on appointment as Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding in 1896. In the novel, Dr. Leale diagnoses Jim with appendicitis.


Major themes

# Life in a close and, in many respects, closed community. # Family relationships: falling in and out with one another. # Non-sexual but close male friendship. # The lifelong, tempestuous love affair, which includes prolonged periods of non-communication, with Liza Queripel. They have much sexual tension between them yet, somehow, seem to agree that sleeping together would make things ordinary. This plays out the truth that many of the most enduring love relationships are those that are never consummated.


Life

Art student
Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...
met Edwards in his old age, when he was living a reclusive life near Weymouth in Dorset. Edwards had had a fraught and difficult life. He left Guernsey to study at
Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...
. He then moved to London where he encountered a group of writers, which included his friends
John Middleton Murry John Middleton Murry (6 August 1889 – 12 March 1957) was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. ...
, J. S. Collis and
Stephen Potter Stephen Meredith Potter (1 February 1900 – 2 December 1969) was a British writer best known for his parodies of self-help books, and their film and television derivatives. After leaving school in the last months of the First World War he wa ...
. There was an anticipation that he would become the next
D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
, and he was in fact commissioned by
Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
to write Lawrence's biography, before his death. Instead, he published nothing more than a handful of articles for Murry's '' Adelphi'' magazine. He married, had children, divorced (leaving his children to be educated with the Elmhirsts at
Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...
) and went through a series of jobs, teaching at
Toynbee Hall Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. Established in 1884, it is based in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, and was the first university-affiliat ...
., as an itinerant drama teacher, a minor civil servant in London, eventually retiring to the West Country. His quarry-owning father had effectively disinherited him where the family home in Guernsey was concerned, by remarrying. When he met Chaney, he was pouring experience and literary know-how into one last attempt at a major novel. Chaney encouraged Edwards to complete his book, which Edwards then dedicated to him and his wife, giving him the copyright. The immaculate typescript was rejected by many publishers but, eventually, at
Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...
,
Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd is a British publisher founded in 1989 by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson became an editor at Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 ...
accepted it with enthusiasm. There is a parallel between this real-life story and the story in the novel, in which Ebenezer bequeaths his autobiography (''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'') to his young artist friend Neville Falla, the motorcycling rebel with a heart of gold.


Literary significance and criticism

Since its publication in 1981, it has been critically acclaimed, as well as winning the admiration of the people of Guernsey for so accurately capturing the island and its character.
John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...
wrote an enthusiastic introduction to the Book, it was very favorably reviewed by
William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...
, among several others, and
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
included it in ''
The Western Canon ''The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages'' is a 1994 book about Western literature by the American literary critic Harold Bloom, in which the author defends the concept of the Western canon by discussing 26 writers whom he sees as ce ...
''.
Stephen Orgel Stephen Orgel is Professor of English at Stanford University. Best known as a scholar of Shakespeare, Orgel writes primarily about the political and historical context of Renaissance literature. Orgel received his B.A. from Columbia University in ...
wrote that it was 'one of the greatest novels of the 20th century'. Although
Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
let it go out of print, it was reprinted by
New York Review Books Classics New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of ''The New York Review of Books''. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, N ...
in 2007. It has meanwhile been published in French and Italian.


Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

It has been adapted for a
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
series, as well as a stage play by Anthony Wilkinson ''The Islander'' which premiered at the Theatre Royal,
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...
in 2002. In both of these adaptations, the role of Ebenezer was played by Guernsey-born actor
Roy Dotrice Roy Dotrice (26 May 1923 – 16 October 2017) was a British actor famed for his portrayal of the antiquarian John Aubrey in the record-breaking solo play ''Brief Lives''. Abroad, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2000 Broadway re ...
, who also reads the unabridged audiobook of the novel, in an old man's voice and Guernsey accent. There have been unsuccessful attempts to turn the novel into a feature film.


Release details

The book was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1981, followed by Penguin and Knopf in America the following year. It had been the subject of numerous rejections during his lifetime, but attempts to get it published were continued after his death in 1976 by
Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...
, who had befriended the author in his old age. Christopher Sinclair Stevenson asked
John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...
to write an introduction which no doubt helped to draw attention to the publication. The novel was originally intended to form the first part of a trilogy, entitled ''Sarnia Cherie: The Book of Ebenezer Le Page''.
Sarnia Cherie "Sarnia Cherie" () is used as the unofficial anthem of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. ''Sarnia'' is a traditional Latin name for the island. George Deighton wrote "Sarnia Cherie" in 1911, with Domenico Santangelo composing the tune later ...
refers to the Guernsey anthem, and was retained in the title of the French translation. The other two books were to be called ''Le Boud'lo: the Book of Philip Le Moigne'' and ''La Gran'-mère du Chimquière: the Book of Jean le Féniant''. A draft of the second part was destroyed by the author before his death. For more details of the author, Gerald B Edwards, and how Edward Chaney eventually managed to get his Book published, see Chaney's biography ''Genius Friend: G.B. Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer Le Page''. The work has been translated into French and Italian. The French version, under the title
Sarnia
', translated by Jeanine Hérisson, was published in 1982 by
Editions du Seuil Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...
. The Italian version translation,
Il Libro di Ebenezer Le Page
' was published by Elliot Edizioni, Rome in 2007.


Critical reception

* "This extraordinary book" full of "wonderful writing": "To read it is not like reading but living",
William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...
. Re Ebenezer himself, Golding wrote: "Nor are simple adjectives adequate... there is epic stature in his individualism". The following December (1981) Golding chose it as his "Book of the Year" in ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''. * "The achievement is so intense and universal that the reader is rendered speechless... G.B. Edwards has succeeded in writing a great novel";
Isobel Murray Isobel Murray is a Scottish literary scholar, Emeritus Professor at the University of Aberdeen. She edited the work of Oscar Wilde and Naomi Mitchison. She also edited a series of interviews which she and her husband Bob Tait carried out with Sco ...
in ''
The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikk ...
''. * "A startingly original book", ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. * "strong compelling voice, both wily and innocent... it holds the reader in an Ancient Mariner grip throughout this brilliant, unusual, and, a very sadly posthumous novel"; Nina Bawden in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
''. * "G. B. Edwards, ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page''. I'd never heard of it. A friend gave it to me. It was written by an 80-year-old recluse on the island of Guernsey, which is where it's set, and it seems to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. Really."
Professor Stephen Orgel, Stanford University Department of English: Summer Reading: Top Picks 2004
* "There may have been stranger recent literary events than the book you are about to read, but I rather doubt it",
John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...
in his 1981 Introduction; reprinted in ''Wormholes'' (1998). * "a breathtaking novel": ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''. * ''A masterpiece....One of the best novels of our time....I know of no description of happiness in modern literature equal to the one that ends this novel.''
Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. Life Guy Davenport was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in the foothills of Appalachia on Novem ...
,
The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
.A Novel of Life in a Small World
Guy Davenport, ''The New York Times Book Review'', April 19, 1981. * Hubert Juin in ''
Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' praised the freshness of the style and the literary ambitions of the author, whose aim was to speak rather than to write (''Une sorte de miracle tient à l'étrange fraîcheur de l'écriture, sinon à la merveilleuse naïveté de l'écrivain. G.B. Edwards ne songe pas à écrire, il a pour seul impératif de parler''). * In the preface he wrote for his 1982 French edition,
Maurice Nadeau Maurice Nadeau (21 May 1911 – 16 June 2013) was a French teacher, writer, literary critic, and editor. He was born in Paris. He was the father of the actress Claire Nadeau and the film director Gilles Nadeau. Biography Orphaned during the ...
(who died in 2013 aged 102), greeted the book as an exceptional achievement (''réussite exceptionnelle''), a subtle, complex and magical blend of space, time and humane sufferings and joys (''un subtil, complexe et magique composé d'espace, de temps, de souffrances et de joies humaines''). * "Recently reprinted by New York Review Books, G.B. Edwards' novel tells the story of a Guernsey man who lived through the Nazi occupation of Britain's Channel Islands into garrulous old age. His reminiscence is couched in a musical Guernsey English that follows circular paths through past and present to delve into island secrets and sagas. Great stuff." ''Seattle Times'' * "G.B. Edwards's miraculous novel...There is a rare wholeness about ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page''. You get the entire man, in a way that isn't usually within the gift of literature to procure... I have read few books of such wide and delightful appeal.... tis vast fun and vast life, a Kulturgeschichte... It is ‘the book of’ in the prosaic sense that Edwards's character speaks it (or writes it in his three big notebooks bought for 18/6 at ‘the Press Office in Smith Street’ in St Peter Port); but also ‘of’ in the sense of ‘made into’. It is Ebenezer made into a book. (Bohumil Hrabal's ''Too Loud a Solitude'' comes to mind, with its paper-baler who is finally baled up himself.) William Golding put it admirably when he said: ‘To read it is not like reading but living.’ It is like reading with no clothes on." (Michael Hofmann, ''
London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...
'', 24 January 2008, p. 23). * "Quaint. Fascinating. Unique. Queer…The Book of Ebenezer Le Page is a eulogy for a way of life." ''The Los Angeles Times'' (Valerie Miner) * "It reads like Beethoven’s Ninth. It charts island life from 1890 to 1970, including the German wartime occupation. In it, weather, darkness, hunger, blood-connectedness, shelter, and an almost painfully keyed-up sexual desire appear in odd, magical proportions never found in any novel conceived off-island. Coated with sea salt, its crannies spilling wildflowers, Edwards’s book still roars like some huge shell held, cutting, against your ear." Allan Gurganus, 'One Great Book Per Life', ''The Atlantic'' (March 2005). * "Imagine a weekend spent in deep conversation with a superb old man, a crusty, intelligent, passionate and individualistic character at the peak of his powers as a raconteur, and you will have a very good idea of the impact of The Book of Ebenezer Le Page…It amuses, it entertains, it moves us… Ebenezer’s voice presides over all and its creation is a tremendous achievement." ''The Washington Post'' (Doug Lang) * " rare find…it is unique–a first novel that resists all categories–and it overflows with the sense of life… Its chief virtues are a story rich in human connection and a marvelously seductive language…For those who cherish style, it is also good to hear a fresh novelist’s voice telling the old story of the passions, generosities, and greeds that battle in us all." —''Chicago Tribune'' (Lynne Sharon Schwartz) * "G.B. Edwards, who died an unknown in 1976, constructed his novel out of the patterns of daily life–countless teas, lovers’ quarrels, accounts of friendships and the signs of change as Guernsey reluctantly assumes the characteristics of progress. The results are enchanting."''The Washington Post'' (New In Paperback) * "A remarkable achievement… The book’s voice and its methods are so unusual that it belongs nowhere on our conventional literary maps." —John Fowles * " knowing and beguiling chronicle of life on the English Channel isle of Guernsey…This deceptively plain-spoken story of a man’s years passing in review before him struck me, when I first read it in 1981, as a beautifully crafted job of writing. Upon rereading it recently, I redoubled my liking and admiration for both Ebenezer and Edwards."Ivan Doig, ''Christian Science Monitor''. * "The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, by G. B. Edwards, is an inexhaustible book I never tire of giving. It is literally one of a kind, a work with no precedent, sponsorship, or pedigree. A true epic, as sexy as it is hilarious, it seems drenched with the harsh tidal beauties of its setting, the isle of Guernsey…For every person nearing retirement, every latent writer who hopes to leave his island and find the literary mainland, its author–quiet, self-sufficient, tidy Homeric–remains a patron saint." —Allan Gurganus, ''O Magazine'' * "The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, by G. B. Edwards, is an oddity and a great literary wonder, written in the beautiful French patios of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands… dwardsfeels intensely about everything and everyone in this deliciously rich novel of longing and love."—''Archipelago'' * "Here is an islander; an island man, solitary, unmarried, alienated, who describes the modern denaturing of our world. Granite quarries and tomatoes and early potatoes; but then come tourists, international companies, tax evaders, occupation by Germans, etcetera.” ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
''. * "Books: Forced to choose, we'd pick The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G. B. Edwards as our favorite novel of all time. The recollections of a cranky old man on the island of Guernsey, Guy Davenport of the Times wrote, when the book was first published here in 1981: ‘A masterpiece...One of the best novels of our time...I know of no description of happiness in modern literature equal to the one that ends this novel.’ Hard for us to imagine a more pleasurable weekend than one spent with Ebenezer Le Page." ''Manhattan User’s Guide'' * "I actually went on holiday to Jersey twenty years ago and the cottage I was staying in had a copy of Ebenezer Le Page that I read while I was there. And it was absorbing, and one of my most emotional reading experiences. So when I was imagining Guernsey – the family, the way they lived and their relationships with the people around them I was sort of inspired by the way he talks about the island." Lisa Jewell (http://www.visitguernsey.com/article/102070/Author-Lisa-Jewell-writing-Before-I-Met-You-and-Guernsey)What books do you find yourself returning to again and again? * "Iris Murdoch’s “A Word Child”; Vladimir Nabokov's “Pnin”; Evan Connell's “Mrs. Bridge” and “Mr. Bridge”; G. B. Edwards's “The Book of Ebenezer Le Page.” . . . Well, I could go on and on." Anne Tyler, on books she returns to again and again; ''New York Times'', 5 February 2015.


See also

*
Ebenezer Le Page Ebenezer Le Page is the lead character in the novel ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'' by Gerald Basil Edwards, G. B. Edwards. The book takes the form of an autobiography of an Archetype, archetypal Guernseyman who lives through the dramatic changes ...
*
Gerald Basil Edwards Gerald Basil Edwards (G. B. Edwards) (July 8, 1899 – December 29, 1976) was a British author. Biography Edwards was born in Vale, Guernsey, the son of Thomas Edwards, a quarry owner, by his wife Harriet (née Mauger). He served in the Roya ...


Notes


References

*
Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...
,
Genius Friend: G.B. Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer Le Page
'
Blue Ormer Publishing
2015). *
Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...
, ''GB Edwards and Ebenezer Le Page'', Review of the
Guernsey Society The Guernsey Society is an organisation for people with an interest in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Society aims The Guernsey Society aims are to promote, maintain and stimulate interest in all matters concerning the Bailiwick of Guernsey, its past, ...
, Parts 1–3, 1994–5. *
John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...
, Foreword to ''The Book of Ebenezer Le Page'',
Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...
, 1981


External links


The Book of Ebenezer Le Page
Reading Group Guide, New York Review of Books.
Extraordinary Ebenezer follow-up
by
Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...
, in The Arran voice, 30 October 2008.
'Blue Plaque could first of many to celebrate local heroes'
– the unveiling of Guernsey's first Blue Plaque in honour of G.B.Edwards in 2008
G B Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer le Page
Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...
, Arts and Humanities Research Council. Retrieved 1 September 2011. * Complete unabridged recording of
The Book of Ebenezer le Page
' by Roy Dotrice (21 hours plus), now available with Audible.
ebook now available from New York Review Books

NYRB Paperback edition

Genius Friend has arrived
– Announcement of Edward Chaney's biography of G.B.Edwards.
Interview with Edward Chaney
– Guille-Alles Library podcast. {{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of Ebenezer Le Page Novels set in Guernsey 1981 British novels British autobiographical novels Hamish Hamilton books Metafictional novels