The Gamekeeper

Written by Barry Hines

Narrated by Luke Francis

Through the changing seasons, amidst a sprawling ducal country estate, ex-steelworker George Purse's role as a gamekeeper goes beyond mere employment. With determination, he safeguards the birds, nurturing them with care, even as they become targets for the wealthy elite.

As the Glorious Twelfth approaches, George must orchestrate flawless hunts for the Duke and his esteemed guests, ensuring their satisfaction while fending off the persistent poachers who threaten the delicate balance of the land.

A masterpiece of nature writing as well as a radical statement on work and class, "The Gamekeeper" stands as a haunting classic of twentieth-century fiction.

Barry Hines (1939-2016), born into a mining family in South Yorkshire, had a diverse career from coal mining to teaching before becoming a renowned writer. His most famous work, "A Kestrel for a Knave," has never been out of print in the UK and was brought to life by Ken Loach in the film adaptation "Kes".

"The purpose of [the gamekeeper's] life is absurd . . . Marginally, in the vitality of some of the wild birds or animals around him the gamekeeper deposits his minimal belief that life has another dimension . . . An outstanding book, which I read with admiration." --John Berger

"His ear for the dialect and its comedy was pitch perfect . . . Barry understood class politics, the irreconcilable conflict between workers and employers. His book The Gamekeeper, which we filmed, captured this exactly. The title character is an ex-steel worker who now protects the land of the aristocracy and chases off his former workmates. A life in the open air for him means social exclusion for his wife and family. Is he changing sides or swapping one form of exploitation for another? Barry loved such contradictions." --Ken Loach, The Guardian

"He has a very rare quality of loaded simplicity, a kind of eloquent stillness . . . it is the marvellously detailed observation of real unsentimental country life which compels attention as grippingly as any thriller. When bolder, gaudier stuff is long forgotten, Mr Hines's writing stays in the mind and nourishes it." --Sunday Telegraph

"The feel and texture of country working-class life can seldom have been more faithfully recorded than they are here . . . I think this book has a quiet kind of value, easily missed, worthy of any reader's patience." --Robert Nye, The Guardian

"The eye and the ear for country matters are as lethal as a crack shot on the Glorious Twelfth." --The Times

"[The Gamekeeper] slyly evolves into

implied criticism of the power imbalance between working-class George and the

aristocratic Duke. Hines (1939-2016) skillfully writes in the tradition of such

North England writers as Alan Sillitoe and Keith Waterhouse. This offers a convincing

take on the strictures of class." --Publisher's Weekly

"Hines has a keen eye

for nature, and his prose is at its finest when describing Purse's adventures

on the lush landscapes, especially his interactions with animals." --Kirkus

Reviews

"A powerfully political novel that sidesteps

overt polemic, The Gamekeeper

observes, with studied neutrality, the beauty and brutality of the natural

world and contrasts it with the wilful brutality of the sporting estate. Our

hero is, of necessity, a cog in a system that warps the land and those who work

it into status symbols. It is a dynamic from which, nearly fifty years on, we

still have not escaped. The Gamekeeper

is a compelling novel-as-documentary that deserves a new generation of readers."

--Gregory Norminton

• Language: English
• Publisher: SAGA Egmont
• Release date: Aug 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9788728580677

Barry Hines

Barry Hines nació en 1939 en el sur de Yorkshire, en la localidad minera de Hoyland Common. De familia obrera, dejó la escuela a temprana edad y trabajó como aprendiz de topógrafo minero. Posteriormente, estudió Magisterio y trabajó como profesor de Educación Física. La fama le llegaría con su novela KES (A KESTREL FOR A KNAVE, 1968), que cosechó un enorme éxito y que sería adaptada a la pantalla y dirigida por Ken Loach en 1969. Hines colaboró con Loach en dos ocasiones más, adaptando sus novelas THE GAMEKEEPER (1975) y LOOKS AND SMILES (1981), galardonada en Cannes. Murió en marzo de 2016.