White Birch Book Club to discuss English Passengers

The White Birch Thursday Night Book Club is set to discuss "English Passengers" by Matthew Kneale. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 25, at 7 p.m. at White Birch Books. "English Passengers" was a Booker Prize finalist and named the Whitbread Book of the Year when it came out in 2000. "English Passengers" begins in 1857 when Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley and his band of rum smugglers from the Isle of Man have most of their illicit goods confiscated by British Customs. They are then forced to put their ship Sincerity up for charter. The only takers are two eccentric Englishmen headed for the island of Tasmania. The passengers are Reverend Geoffrey Wilson, who believes the Garden of Eden was located there, and Dr. Thomas Potter, who is developing a sinister thesis about the races of men. And these passengers are only slightly odder than the crew, a diverse and lively bunch better equipped to entertain one another than to steer the Sincerity around Cape Horn and across the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile in Tasmania, an aborigine named Peevay recounts his people's struggles against the invading British, who prove as lethal in their good intentions as in their cruelty. As the English passengers approach Peevay's land, their bizarre notions ever more painfully at odds with reality, we know a mighty collision is looming. Matthew Kneale lives in Italy. English Passengers is his American debut. Anyone interested in English Passengers is invited to join in the discussion whether they have read the book or not. People can come ready to participate, or they are welcome to just listen to the discussion and learn about the book. White Birch Books is located in North Conway Village across from the Bank of New Hampshire. For more information or to reserve a copy of English Passengers, call White Birch Books at 356-3200 or visit them online at www.whitebirchbooks.com.