The Lunatic
By (Author) Anthony C Winkler
By (author) Anthony C. Winkler
Akashic Books,U.S.
Akashic Books,U.S.
1st June 2007
United States
General
Fiction
813
Paperback
210
Width 130mm, Height 196mm
241g
In this outrageously out-of-order, hilarious novel, the reader discovers that lunacy is by no means restricted to the village madman, and that goodness and forgiveness may be rarer qualities, found in unexpected places.
Aloysius is tolerated by neighbors but forced to eke out a living by doing odd jobs, using the hospitable woodlands for shelter. He is starved of human companionship; instead he has running conversations with trees and plants. Then love, or a peculiar version of it, comes to Aloysius in the form of a solidly built German lady, Inga Schmidt, who has come to Jamaica to photograph the flora and fauna.
Winkler was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1942. His first novel, The Painted Canoe, was published in 1984 to critical acclaim. This was followed by The Lunatic (1987), The Great Yacht Race (1992), Going Home to Teach (1995) and The Duppy (1997). A short story collection, The Annihilation of Fish and Other Stories, was published in 2004 by Macmillan.