Book:Nation

Nation
Cover art by Jonny Duddle
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)	Jonny Duddle
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	11 Sep 2008
ISBN	0385613709
Pages	404
RRP	£16.99
Main characters	Daphne, Mau
Series	[[:Category:\|]]
Annotations	View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

Finding himself alone on a tropical island when everything and everyone he knows and loved has been washed away in a huge storm, Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He's also completely alone - or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird and gives him a stick which can make fire. Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She's certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship's parrot. As it happens, they are not alone for long. Other survivors start to arrive to take refuge on the island they all call the Nation and then raiders accompanied by murderous mutineers from the Sweet Judy. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things - including how to milk a pig and why spitting in beer is a good thing - and start to forge a new Nation.

As can be expected from Terry Pratchett, the master story-teller, this new children's novel is both witty and wise, encompassing themes of death and history/memory, while being extremely funny. Mau's ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone's lives!

Human Characters

Ataba
Mr. Black
Mr. Blezzard
Cahle
Cookie
Cox
Daphne
Daphne's Father
Daphne's Grandmother
Foxlip
Sir Geoffrey
Mr. Griffith
Mrs. Gurgle
Mau
Milo
Nawi
Pilu
Polegrave
Raiders
Captain Nathan Roberts
Captain Lionel Samson
Tom-ali
The Gentlemen of Last Resort
an Unknown Woman

Non-Human Characters

The Parrot
The Grandfather Birds

Gods and God-like Entities

Things and Concepts

Locations

Great Southern Pelagic Ocean
- Mothering Sunday Islands
  - Nation
    - Boys' Island
    - The Women's Place
    - The Lagoon
    - The Cave of the Grandfathers
- Port Mercia

A word from the author

Saturday 21st June 2008:-

In the current edition of the Waterstones magazine, Books Quarterly no. 29 (For non-UK readers, Waterstones is a major British bookselling chain) there is an four-page feature where Terry Pratchett is interviewed by Neil Gaiman.

The interview contains this interesting snippet concerning the writing of Nation:-

I spent the better part of a year working on "Nation", which is a non-Discworld children's book. It was a hell of a job because it wasn't Discworld and and it wasn't Johnny Maxwell. It wasn't something I have envisaged myself writing but it absolutely needed to be written and I had to learn the toolkit for it

Annotations

Maori folklore in New Zealand honours a demigod called Maui, who was spared death by drowning at sea at the whim of the sea gods. Educated by the sky-god, he is then returned to his people to lead and teach them. Unfortunately, this appears to be the only Maui myth relevant to the Pratchett character Mau.
There is, though, Mau Piailug (1932-2010), a famous Micronesian navigator. It doesn't have to be a myth.