SNUG

by Matthew Tree

Coldwater Bay - a tiny village tucked away on the southern coast of the Isle of Wight - suddenly finds itself being besieged by Africans who have gone there for that very purpose. A racist doctor on holiday, two of his love-sick teenage wards, and the Africans' inside man in the village watch events unfold from their very different viewpoints, in this ambitious, original novel which steers a captivating path between the comic and the horrific."A witty, frightening book lancing British arrogance, racism and smugness...His prose sparkles with razor’s-edge wit reminiscent of the great British satirists...A finely written, disturbingly pointed indictment of British colonialism and racism and that fester in an insular smugness “where life is indeed an island…bristling with complacency.”" - Kirkus Reviews (US)"On the surface it appears to be a simple story but it has more layers than an onion and leaves you with plenty to think about afterwards. I had to find out what happened and it was after three o'clock this morning when I tuned the final page but a good hour before I could sleep as I mulled over what we had done to other countries and the trauma of doing what is right, even brave but having your actions cause death. It's a book that will stay with me and one which I'm sure I'll reread." - The Bookbag (UK)"Snug is an intense, unremittingly honest book, with an appealing soul of its own; it is also unputdownable." - Núvol (Catalonia)."Ambitious in its resolve to be both serious and funny" Matthew Parris, The Spectator (UK)."An utterly compelling, uncompromising, visceral and unflinching look at racism, anti-Semitism and the legacy of colonialism. The adult protagonists are drawn with a deft accuracy and the resultant emotional impact of a heat seeking missile. The book bewitches the reader...it is touching, deeply moving and very funny." KS Lewkowicz - composer and lyricist of Goodbye Barcelona and Release The Beat."This strikes me as being an enviable tour de force. It kept me enthralled, and glued to the page all the way through." Jordi Puntí - author of the award-winning novel Lost Luggage."Snug is an astonishing narrative of the imperial thuggery lurking beneath the genteel veneer of life in an English seaside resort. An ironic, highly dramatic tale of the siege mentality of the Little Englander. Eastbourne or Ventnor will never seem quite the same." Peter Bush - former Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation."This book´s a must, and not to be missed. It will grip you from beginning to end" Antonia Kerrigan, AK Literary Agency.

454 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 21, 2013

About the author

Matthew Tree (Londres, 30 de desembre de 1958) és un escriptor anglès en català. Va aprendre català el 1979 i en l'actualitat viu a Banyoles, després d'anar a viure a Barcelona el 1984. Escriptor i defensor de la llengua catalana, ha col·laborat en diverses publicacions i emissores de ràdio (RAC 1, Catalunya Ràdio o Ràdio Contrabanda) i televisió tant angleses com catalanes. En televisió ha col·laborat en el programa La cosa nostra, d'Andreu Buenafuente, ha protagonitzat el programa sobre Catalunya, Passatgers i forma part del programa cultural en anglès amb subtítols en català The weekly mag de la Xarxa de Comunicació Local. La seva activitat en l'àmbit de la premsa escrita s'estén, entre altres, a publicacions com El Punt Avui, a l'apartat d'opinió, i a la revista en anglès Catalonia Today, en les quals hi publica regularment els seus articles.

Reviews

[M. Gilliland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just had the fun of reading SNUG, I couldn't put it down and ended up late for work twice!
Though it's his first English novel Matthew is author of 10 popular novels in Catalan, and it shows.
The writing is just brilliant, he's caught the language, mannerisms and prejudices perfectly, and I felt right inside the psyche of the various narrators, only to find them much too real, as the tension and terror takes over.
A tale of kids on holiday turns into much much more... half way through I realised I was reading a shocking exposé of little England, of the continuing genocidal crimes against Africa and the Africans and the deep institutionalised racism and sadism that made the Empire function.
SNUG is entertaining and amazing, I recommend it!

I believe SNUG will be published on paper this year, and the ebook is available already on Kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/SNUG-ebook/dp/B...

[Brett Hetherington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matthew Tree, the prolific British/Catalan writer has just published SNUG, his first novel in his native English. In this work, he shows that he is one of the few writers born in England who is brave enough to write honestly about social class in that country. Influenced in part by Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart," Tree sets SNUG in a small town on an island in England and he shares the narrative between two holiday-makers: a 12 year-old boy and a racist and anti-Semitic doctor and an African man who is directly involved in creating armed conflict on the island – the main focus of the storyline. (The title of the book refers to the cosy, ultra-comfortable mentality of both the locals and visitors.) In this book, Tree (who had previously traveled in Africa) skillfully explores the theme of colonialism, based around the idea that Britain could be invaded by the very people it has previously brought into the “commonwealth” by force. The various ways that the characters respond to the threat posed by the militant Africans propels the events along to a climax that is both inventive and entertaining. How we, as humans deal with pressure, and how we easily revert to our prejudices and to a reactionary “Us-and-Them” mentality is a kind of sub-text to this well-crafted tale.

[A version of this article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine in September 2013.]

http://www.bretthetherington.net/defa...

[John Maas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave me a copy of SNUG saying read this odd little English mystery. It starts out as a fairly common example of the genre, a family with friends of the children head off to the seaside out of season for a weeks holiday. As the characters are drawn, one begins to realize that there is a lot more going on here. There is a side to take as you develop a sense of foreboding. Without giving away too much plot, what happens is that the little seaside village becomes the subject and the prey of an allegory on "Little England". Characters hove to type and things become a bit nasty. When it all seems to work out in the end, it doesn't.

The author's indictment of narrow thinking expands into a timely warning made all the more imperative by the rise of hard right, nativist political movements.

Strong stuff. Give it a go.