*OP Cormorant [Paperback]

Stephen Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1996

For a young couple, the small cottage tucked away in a quiet village in the mountains of north Wales, a legacy from a distant, estranged uncle, is a dream come true. The one condition of the inheritance is that they keep the uncle's beloved pet cormorant. They soon discover, however, that the cormorant is no mere bird, but a foul and malignant creature that may exact a greater price than they are willing to pay. Produced by the BBC as a TV film starring Ralph Fiennes.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A history teacher moves, with his wife and baby son, into a newly-inherited cottage in northern, seaside Wales. The terms of the inheritance dictate that he must care for his dead uncle's cormorant. It's just a bird, but in the eyes of this man and his family, the cormorant looms as a relentless, malign presence -- "as ugly and poisonous as a vampire bat" -- and seems to draw the small boy under its spell. A tightly written, erotically charged drama about people who do not know themselves and cannot come to terms with the natural world and its inescapable strangeness.

From Publishers Weekly

Uncle Ian's strange bequest comes as a "thunderbolt of good fortune" to a young family when he leaves his nephew a rundown cottage not far from the coast in North Wales. But there is a condition: Uncle Ian's pet cormorant must be cared for. Though Ian's nephew (through whose eyes we observe this sinister tale) and his wife Anne settle in happily to their new life, they are soon disconcerted by the arrival of the bird, "as ugly and poisonous as a vampire bat." Anne shudders at its "demonic arrogance," but their 11-month-old son, Harry, is unpleasantly attracted to the bird, whom they name Archie. As a feeling of impending disaster gradually permeates the narrative, Archie's relentless presence causes a rift between the couple, who must cope with its viciousness and malevolence. The nephew finally decides to do away with Archie, but the cormorant proves to be his nemesis instead. This artful first novel, reminiscent of the tales of Poe, won Britain's Somerset Maugham Award. Gregory uses a low-key style and subtle lyricism to build an atmosphere of nightmarish horror in a tale that could become a classic.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing; 2nd edition (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565049187
• ISBN-13: 978-1565049185
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 3.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric tale whose emotional impact will sneak up on you, April 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: *OP Cormorant (Paperback)

Initially, I intended to criticize "The Cormorant" by Stephan Gregory for failing to be as compelling as I had expected a book touted as "Award-winning" to be. However, as I began writing this review, my opinion began to take another shape.

Gregory does a masterful job of creating the landscape and atmosphere of the Wales countryside and the cozy cottage where the narrator and his wife take residence after the death of his uncle Ian. It is quite easy for the reader to become enveloped in the world the author has created: to cozy up to the fire and watch the pre-Christmas snow falling outside the slowly-fogging windows, all the while sensing the sulking, angry presence of the ugly joke, the cormorant, trapped in a cage in the back yard. Based on atmosphere alone, "The Cormorant" is a book whose images and emotions will linger in your mind.

The ending of the story, the portion of the book with which I was going to find fault, is still unraveling itself in my mind. At first, I felt that the ending didn't create the kind of emotional impact that I felt the author had intended. I now believe that my feelings had more to do with the fact that I stayed up late reading and got little sleep, rather than any failings on the author's part. I feel a bit like a shock victim coming out of it: the emotions are rising up in me as I think back on the story, and plotlines that I felt were left unresolved are weaving themselves together. The sheer fact that a novel can leave this kind of lingering impression should be enough to recommend it.

White Wolf publishing, under their Borealis line, has published a number of great books in recent years by authors who are not well know in the United States. After reading several of the titles published in this line, I now browse through bookstores in search of the Borealis imprint. Some other titles in the line include "The Immaculate" by Mark Morris, "Resume with Monsters" by William Browning Spencer, and "Virgins and Martyrs" by Simon Maginn.

Check them out!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not an ounce of fat here., December 3, 2010

By 

Literary Omnivore (Utah, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: *OP Cormorant (Paperback)

A man inherits his uncle's estate, which consists of little more than a cottage and a bird, the cormorant of the title. He takes his wife and son to live in the cottage and, against his wife's wishes, becomes more and more involved with the cormorant, a "pet" that is more than half wild and dangerously unpredictable. Was the bird a malevolent gift from the solitary, woman-hating Uncle Ian? Is Ian haunting his nephew, or is the cormorant merely an excuse for him to spend more and more time away from the demands of his family? Someone once told me that he didn't like this book because the protagonist "didn't struggle enough against his fate, as characters must in a horror novel." In my opinion, this is a horror novel precisely because the protagonist didn't struggle (not at first, anyway.) The best way I can describe this is to say that if a master writer took the seven year itch, that mysterious longing for freedom that sometimes strikes married people, and turned it into a horror novel, this is what you'd have--and make no mistake, this is an incredibly well-written book. The author takes us by the hand and takes us down a strange and eerie path, one where we're not entirely sure whether or when we should be afraid, and he doesn't flinch from taking us all the way to the end of it. There are no compromises here, no veering off the path to a prettier place where we can have a sweet little happy ending. The book is so short it could really be called a novelette but after reading it I felt like I'd been punched in the gut by someone who knew exactly how to do it for maximum effect. This is an adult book dealing with adult issues. It is definitely "no one under 17," not for any sexuality but for a scene of violence and cruelty.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chilling ghost story., March 7, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: *OP Cormorant (Paperback)

Gregory portrays the cormorant as a perfect blend of malevolence and mystery. Short but memorable, with an ending that is both haunting and surprising.