The Letters of Ivor Punch

by Colin MacIntyre

'A truly original and enthralling novel... mischievous, sad, funny and truthful' Stephen Kelman, BOOKER-SHORTLISTED author of PIGEON ENGLISH

'Clever, poignant, beautiful ... peopled by a cast of brilliantly off-the-wall characters, and full of keen-eyed observations about life on a remote Scottish island - and, by extension, everywhere. A must-read' Laura Barnett, author of THE VERSIONS OF US WINNER OF THE EDINBURGH BOOK FESTIVAL FIRST BOOK AWARD, from the author also known as The Mull Historical Society. When Fingal McMillan rows out into the Atlantic never to return, his grandson Alexander is left with questions. What really happened to Alexander's mother? Was his grandfather trying to reach The Looming, a rock of local myth? And why have mysterious words appeared on the cliff by the bay? Alexander is not the only local boy whose origins are clouded by mystery - a mystery which stretches back to Victorian times, when a pioneering travel writer alighted on Scottish shores. But will the island give up its secrets? Or will Ivor Punch - the man who links the past to the present - take them to the grave?

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2015

About the author

Colin^^MacIntyre.

Colin MacIntyre – who releases under the pseudonym ‘Mull Historical Society’ – is one of the UK’s most respected songwriters & performers. Also a multi-instrumentalist, programmer, producer, and now Award-winning debut novelist, MacIntyre has released six albums to date: four MHS albums and two under his own name, achieving two Top 20 albums and four Top 40 singles. His debut novel The Letters of Ivor Punch is the winner of the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award 2015.

Reviews

[Raluca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gah, finally finished this utterly frustrating, beautiful, melancholy book! A good one for cold, winter days spent near a roaring fire, whisky at hand and all that (obviously not the case here but you know, keep it in mind for later in the year).
Sheesh but did I struggle with it, though Lord knows it was neither long, nor terribly complex. Apart from the family trees - those were a pain in the backside.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ivor Punch is the (former) police sergeant of a small island off the west coast of Scotland. He's a man of few (spoken) words but a prolific letter writer, which he liberally punctuates with the f-bomb. (Used more as an outburst than swearing, so it didn't offend this reader.) His letters are funny, revealing, poignant, matter of fact and heartfelt and I loved reading them. But I also enjoyed getting to know the story around those letters: that of the islanders, and in particular the wider story of the Punch family through the generations.

The novel jumps around between various family secrets, local lore and custom and takes in a wide range of subjects including the demise of crofting, the sense of belonging to a family, a community, an island and being an outsider; the relationship with the land and the sea; the relationship with the mainland and losing the island's youngsters to the lure of the mainland's jobs and opportunities. It reaches back over generations to cover the time of an intrepid female Victorian explorer and her stay-at-home sister, a young record-breaking long jumper who seems forever suspended above the island's sandpit in the eyes of the islanders, the legacy of a terrorist attack and its reverberations when the case is re-examined, a tragic young woman and a disgraced banker who seek solace on the same clifftops but who are separated by generations, fathers and sons and unwed mothers, friends both local and famous, islanders and mainlanders, and finding home. All island life is here and the island left its peaty handprint and salty tidemark every bit as much upon this reader as it does upon each one of the characters. It even manages a wry nod to the author's songwriting in one of the chapters and a bizarre committee of two which had me chuckling to myself. I sometimes struggled to keep the relationships of the characters straight in my mind as I was reading but that was probably partly due to my gulping down this book in one sitting. But I enjoyed piecing the relationships together and working out how they all fitted together in the end and I loved this book and its characters and its evocation of shifting island life.

[Isla Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first chapter of this book put me off as it featured quite a lot of strong language between the various male characters. However, I carried on reading and I definitely became more keen on it as I read on. Each chapter is set in a different time (decade/century) and features different characters, although the main character of Ivor Punch and indeed other members of the Punch family do feature heavily.

It is quite a quirky read with Ivor having written the letters as mentioned in the books title - letters addressed to the former US President, Obama. I felt there was a clear theme of regret, a bittersweet element and also a smidgen of nostalgia.

I liked the mentions of local myths, with the main one being of the spooky Headless Horseman. Also, as well as Obama, Charles Darwin is mentioned, spending some time on the Scottish island (based on the Hebrides I believe). It was definitely a quirky read - not one for those who really don't like strong language but its not purely swearing throughout and overall I'd recommend it, as its a quite atmospheric read once you get in to the flow of it, probably a couple of chapters in or thereabouts.

Also, after the end of the text, there's a section entitled 'The Beginnings of Ivor Punch' in which the author explains why he wrote the story, where he got the inspiration for certain things, plot elements etc. It was apparently published originally in The Irish Times in 2015. Its an interesting read, even somewhat memorable I suppose, about a small-ish island community and as such I'd recommend it as an interesting read (as long as you don't mind some fairly frequent swearing of course).

[Donald Handley · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you read this book you will need a piece of paper and a pencil to make a note of each character as they emerge and form your notes into a family (?) tree and half way through scribble that out and start again. each chapter is a story in it's self each of which are vaguely connected to each other. Some of the chapters I flew through and enjoyed the story contained therein but others were a real struggle to come to terms with. The use of the F word annoyed me, the odd one in context I can live with but when used in letters as in this book does not express feelings just the writers need to possibly shock his readers.

(According to the front of the book) this work won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award, erm, perhaps not too many entries.

I got to the end but at one point just out of frustration, I nearly pulled the book mark out, I hope you enjoy more that I did.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found parts of this very moving due to my own personal circumstances. The Lockerbie bombing wasn't the only disaster linked to the US that Scotland dealt with in 1988. People deal with grief in different ways and Ivor Punch writes letters. Some he never sends. The jumping about through time can be a bit annoying but everything comes together by the end when it's eventually revealed how exactly everyone is related or linked. The Pluto and Island Historical and Archaeological Society thread I could have done without, but I imagine the author was exorcising some demons...
(He is known in music circles as Mull Historical Society)

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This got an extra star for complexity and a vague sense of satisfaction at the the ending. In truth, I found it a total slog to get to. The cast and the jumping around all felt overly trying to be clever and I couldn’t get engaged with any of them sufficiently to pick up the book and read on.

The song and the play were much better!

[Vicky Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the characters in this complex tale of Scottish island familial generations. While it jumps about a lot and can be hard to keep up, it is worth sticking with it. Looking forward to reading it for a second time which is not something I would normally do.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. For a while it seemed like a collection of stories, some linked, others apparently random. When I say random there was a common thread of the sense of place, an island of the West coast of Scotland. An enjoyable read.

[Jill Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting family saga told in varied, intergenerational voices.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literacy fiction, lyrical writing, atmospheric in tone, character and setting driven

[Connor Doherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ambitious but not perfectly executed look at intertwined lives on an island. Lovely turn of phrase but didn’t hit the heights it could have. Would like to know more of the characters though.

[Neil Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Ivor

[Alison J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shock of a book! Like your first sips of vodka and lime..... taking my time to let each story settle from bazar confusion to intrigue for more.....
No hurry to finish as I doubt will every find likes again.
The journey was great, possibly helped by hearing Scottish voices narrating.
The destination to tie up story lines was less satisfactory but I will revisit to check in on some of the intriguing characters.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the quirkiness of Ivor and his letters to Obama. Most of the parallel story lines linked by the end though I was sort of expecting a tighter binding of the different stories, links that would be mandatory to the outcome of the story. The last part of the book tended towards the melancholy though the things that counted were resolved by the end. Overall a really enjoyable book.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky tale of a family, told by various members at different times in their history, with a nice tie-in to the author towards the end and an ending that shines the light on how they all slot in together.

Funny in parts, interesting, and an excellent debut novel, it's well worth a read.