List of Writers - Further information

Mr Cassini (Seren) by Lloyd Jones

Author Details
A former farm worker, nurse and journalist. After nearly dying of alcoholism and having spent time living rough, Lloyd gave up drinking and walked over a thousand miles around Wales to inspire him to write his first novel Mr Vogel, which won the McKitterick Prize in 2005.

Book Summary
Mr Cassini is an amazing journey through the geography of one man’s troubled mind as he tries to recover the lost years of his childhood. Duxie is a dreamer with holes in his memory. With the help of the mysterious Olly he sets out on a quest to fill the gaps. As they search the landscapes and myths of the past they uncover domestic and national tyranny. The tale twists together strands of a dream, daydream and reality as Duxie journeys towards freedom and an understanding of his amnesia. Lurking deep within his dreams is the vampire-like Mr Cassini, who feeds off women’s tears, keeps stolen mannequins in a darkened room, and commits terrible acts with his policeman side-kick. 

Lloyd Jones walked across Wales seven times in seven different directions while writing this novel.  The result is a sad and brilliant exploration of lost childhood and the distortions of the past. Learned, funny and tragic, punctuated by picnics, enlivened by monsters, insects, snow, islands and drugs, seeking justice and magic, Mr Cassini is a rainbow-hued epic of dazzling ambition.

Mr Cassini by Lloyd Jones
(Seren, 2006)
£7.99 [ISBN: 1854114255]
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