THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS BY DAVID DISKIN

Language: English Genre: Fiction. Novel. ISBN: 978-988-19935-9-5 Format: Pbk. 232pp. Size: 210mm. high by 150mm wide Published by Proverse Hong Kong, 20 November 2012 Purchase and details link: The Village in the Mountains DAVID DISKIN was born and brought up in the English Midlands but has spent most of his working life in Asia. He currently lives in Hong Kong where he pursues his interests in writing, natural history and photography. THE VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS is set in a fictional, southern European country. After a brief period of democratic reform, the nation has once again become a totalitarian state under the rule of the Colonel, whose overriding creed is Loyalty to the State, the Church, the Family. The narrator of the book, a left-wing poet from a prominent family, is exiled by the Colonel to a village in the high mountains near the country’s border. Against this mountainous backdrop, an intense psychological drama is played out between the poet and the people with whom he comes into contact, compelling him to make a decision that will change his life forever. ~~"A compelling narrative." --Proverse Prize Judges. ~~"The protagonist of this story spent nine years in exile for his political views. In that time he was well known for his politically motivated poetry, but he missed his country which remains unnamed throughout this story. He has experienced the fairly recent bereavement of his wife and lives quietly and reflectively alone waiting for some of the inspiration that had previously created his poetry. He looks back over his life with a certain amount of sadness and resignation as he questions his once-held certainties with the calmness and maturity of a life spent questioning and observing. His talents as a poet came from an impassioned belief in the injustice and wrongs of the political system in his country, and perhaps without the passion he finds it harder to find inspiration. Once the system is overthrown by a military dictatorship, he is still considered a political subversive by the authorities. The book therefore starts with the arrival of the authorities who will take him into exile, but which will be this time within the boundaries of his own country…. "There is a sense of melancholy as the protagonist goes over his earlier life, but the book is not about regrets, or the different angle from which he now views his actions and thoughts and the part they played in his writing and in his relationships. It is more about the expansion of his mind and his continued mental development that leaves him now considering his youthful certainties in a different light. The author is very good on the interplay of his political views and his ego as he pursues his career as a poet with ambition, taking pleasure in his success and the adulation he inspires more than the effect of his politics which are the spur to his poetry and the political passion that motivates his creativity. His self-awareness as he examines his life is dispassionate and honest, the thoughts of a man reaching wisdom." --Yeeshan Yang, --HKADC Examiner

Purchase and details link: The Village in the Mountains

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