Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones

I recently read this book, and although I bought it based on the Booker Prize nomination, I was pleased I'd read it anyway. However, I'm not sure I would have nominated it myself. The novel is set in Bougainville Island (which, if you're like me and Geographically ignorant, you might need help from Wikipedia to locate it in Papua New Guinea) during the early 1990s, when the government of Papua New Guinea took action against traditional landowners, capitalising on the Island's valuable copper mine - the richest in the world. The protagonist and narrator, Matilda (whose name is given by the Australians working the copper mine) lives in a tiny village with her ...

The second Richard and Judy book I chose to read this year was entitled Mister Pip and is an endearing tale of a young girl trapped on a Papua New Guinea Island [Bougainville]which is ravaged by Civil War, between red skins and rambos. The author, Lloyd Jones, covered this war as a journalist in the 1990's and his knowledge of the situation can be seen in this book. The narrator of the story, 13 year old Matilda, begins her story as a blockade has begun. Helicopters circle the island at night putting immense fear into the islanders. They have no electricity due to the generators being destroyed and they are cut off from the outside world. The source of work ...