The Call of the Cormorant

by Donald S. Murray

“Full of memorable images and singing lines of prose.” Sarah Waters on Donald S. Murray's previous work 

From the author of the multi award-winning Scottish bestseller As the Women Lay Dreaming comes the remarkable “unreliable biography” of serial swindler Karl Einarsson.

As a child of the late nineteenth century in the North Atlantic’s windswept, fog-bound Faroe Islands, Karl Einarsson grows up believing he is superior to his peers, destined for a life of art and adventure. As soon as he is old enough, he sets out for Denmark and begins his own reinvention.

Once untethered from his past, Einarsson’s lies begin to spiral. He begins a life of serial scamming, swindling everyone from fishermen to aristocrats. He has set his sights on Atlantis, but when his schemes find him in 1930s Berlin, for the first time Einarsson is forced to reckon with something bigger than himself. As the Nazis rise to power around him, his indifference becomes unwitting complicity, and even betrayal. 

Based on the true story of Karl Einarsson’s life, this is an outlandish tale of island claustrophobia, of those who leave and those who stay behind, and the many dangers of delusions, deceit, and false identities.

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 20, 2022

About the author

Donald S. Murray was born in Ness in the Isle of Lewis and taught on Benbecula. An author and journalist, his poetry, prose and verse has been shortlisted for both the Saltire Award and Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. Published widely, his work has also appeared in a number of national anthologies and on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland. He lives and works in Shetland.

Reviews

[Mario · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante para ver como se viveu a segunda guerra mundial num local isolado como as Ilhas Faroé, no entanto a escrita em si deixa um pouco a desejar.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Randomly picked this up in a second hand store in Edinburgh and was charmed by it! Beautifully written, evocative, unusual and a surprising story that you never quite know where it's going. An glimpse of a part of the world not often talked about, intermixed with the background of the cataclysm of the 20th century.

[Pascale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although not a novice's effort, this reads like a first novel, laboriously stitched together with the help of a stack of notes. The fact that little is known about the real Karl Einarsson hasn't enabled this writer to breath life into the kind of out-size, colorful protagonist suggested by the plot summary of the back page. For all that he is supposed to be multi talented as a draughtsman, imitator and even poet, Karl remains a wooden character who elicits neither curiosity nor disgust when he turns into a craven Nazi follower doing radio broadcasts to persuade his fellow Faroese to fight for Hitler. I bought this book in Tórshavn in hopes of at least finding evocative descriptions of the rugged landscape of this remote archipelago, but alas Murray's prose fails in this respect as well.

[Iain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is good, with a real feel for the islands, life there and the people. However, the story of Karl is underwhelming for half the book - he's just a bit odd and irritating - and then he becomes an unapologetic Nazi sympathiser and collaborator, and an anti-Semite - and so it is impossible to have any sympathy or empathy for him. He's a pretty horrible character all round, so much so that I wonder why the author chose his story as the subject matter. Does give a different perspective in the WWII experience, to be fair.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing style, often poetic, and setting of this story. Karl’s mother seemed to think he had so much going for him as a young child but Karl ends up as a Nazi Sympathizer and we find out he really just looks out for himself.

[Derrick Baynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish, found it turgid

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good novel based on facts by Donald S Murray.

[Pippi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story, based on a factual life. I liked the way the author used the viewpoints of different characters to reflect on island life and to accept, embrace or reject its restrictions.