When a naked man washes up on a Cornish beach, the villagers of St Piran pull together to save him, and take him in as one of their own.
The man, Joe Haak, is a financial analyst who has run away from the City of London, after developing a computer program that has predicted a flu pandemic and the collapse of civilisation.
He spends his life savings buying up and stockpiling food so that he and the villagers can survive the catastrophe that he feels he has helped to create.
It’s easy to see this simply as a modern interpretation of the story of Jonah and the whale, but this charming tale is more complex.
It’s about a man trying to find himself and his place in the world, it’s a love story of sorts and, above all, it’s about the innate goodness of people and our connections with the wider world.
Book Review: Not Forgetting The Whale by John Ironmonger
