Lingua Franca

By William Thacker

Longlisted for the Guardian Not the Booker prize 2016'William Thacker is a name you will hear a lot more often.' -- Matt Haig, author'Remarkable.' -- Caroline Smailes, author'This is bloody brilliant.' -- Heydon Prowse, writer of the Bafta-winning The Revolution Will Be TelevisedThere's a problem with Barrow, but it can be fixed. You just need to change the name to Birdseye. Birdseye-in-Furness...Miles Platting is pulled from the ruins of a shipwreck into a world in which no one will speak to him.The founder of Lingua Franca - a naming rights agency committed to renaming every UK town after a corporate sponsor - Miles recounts the story of his quest for linguistic supremacy to anyone who'll listen. Confined to his hospital bed in a deathly quiet ward, Miles seeks to find his colleagues and reunite with his true love.But in doing so, Miles must confront his deepest held convictions and consider, what's in a name? in a world where the spoken word has been replaced with silence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Legend Press
• Release date: May 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781785079757

Reviews for Lingua Franca

[marcuskb-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent read! I found the concept unpleasant - towns being renamed to brand names in exchange for sponsorship and hoped-for regeneration. At the start of the book, you share the confusion of Miles, the ex-teacher who created Lingua Franca, the company responsible for selling the renaming rights of towns who has been in an accident and awakes to find nurses who won't talk; the reason behind this gradually becomes clear and is even worse than the renaming, in my opinion.I won't say much more as I don't want to risk any spoilers but I found the silence claustrophobic and felt a strong urge to talk to someone, anyone, whilst reading certain parts of the book!A compelling read, by an author who clearly has a love of the English language, I haven't read Thacker's first novel but, after reading this second novel, I will have to get hold of a copy.

[bravenewbks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars.

A fun premise: Miles Platting has founded a company that finds corporate sponsorships for towns that have fallen on hard times. Some people, including his ex-wife, Kendal, with whom he would dearly like to be reunited, see this as a crass affront to tradition, to history, and to language itself.

I didn't really understand the criticism of Lingua Franca as destroying language, and I think I would have had more fun if I were familiar with the English towns (and corporate brands) mentioned throughout. Still, this was a pretty upbeat, slightly absurd, but ultimately fairly serious reflection on the nature of language and the power of naming.

I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

[marcusb01 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent read! I found the concept unpleasant - towns being renamed to brand names in exchange for sponsorship and hoped-for regeneration. At the start of the book, you share the confusion of Miles, the ex-teacher who created Lingua Franca, the company responsible for selling the renaming rights of towns who has been in an accident and awakes to find nurses who won't talk; the reason behind this gradually becomes clear and is even worse than the renaming, in my opinion.I won't say much more as I don't want to risk any spoilers but I found the silence claustrophobic and felt a strong urge to talk to someone, anyone, whilst reading certain parts of the book!A compelling read, by an author who clearly has a love of the English language, I haven't read Thacker's first novel but, after reading this second novel, I will have to get hold of a copy.