Nation (novel)

Did You Know?

• Pratchett took his editors by surprise by writing Nation before the previously scheduled Tiffany Aching conclusion.
• The Royal National Theatre performed a theatrical adaptation of the book by Mark Ravenhill with music by Adrian Sutton, with previews starting November 11 and the show opening November 23, 2009.
• Pratchett noted: "I believe that Nation is the best book I have ever written, or will write."

Synopsis

The novel is written loosely in a third-person perspective and set shortly after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. A recent Russian influenza pandemic has killed the British king and his next 137 heirs. The action occurs entirely in the Great Southern Pelagic Ocean on an island called "the Nation" by its indigenous inhabitants. In the first chapter, the Gentlemen of Last Resort, a secret society serving the Crown, seek Henry Fanshaw, the next man in the British line of succession and governor of England's oceanic territories. Fanshaw's 13-year-old daughter, Ermintrude, is one of the two protagonists; the other is Mau, an indigenous native of the Nation who is building a canoe on Boys' Island for his initiation rite. Ermintrude travels aboard the schooner Sweet Judy, but mutineers led by First Mate Cox are subdued and set adrift. A massive tsunami carries Ermintrude and Mau to the Nation's shores. Mau survives in his canoe; Ermintrude is the lone survivor of the Sweet Judy. The tsunami killed all the Nation's villagers except Mau, who angrily rejects the gods and believes his interrupted rite has left him soulless. He carries the corpses into the ocean, following the belief that humans buried at sea become dolphins. Ermintrude, calling herself "Daphne," and Mau cooperate for survival despite ignorance of each other's culture and language.

Reception

The novel was well received. The Independent called it "one of his finest books yet," the Washington Post called it "a thrilling story," and The Guardian wrote that "Nation has profound, subtle and original things to say about the interplay between tradition and knowledge, faith and questioning." Times Online described it as "thought-provoking as well as fun" and noted it celebrates "the joy of the moment." Nation won the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature and the 2009 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry. It was also a nominee for the Sidewise Award for Best Long-Form Alternate History, the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, the Odyssey Award, the Carnegie Medal, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.