Skellig

Wikipedia:

Skellig is a novel by David Almond, for which Almond was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 1998 and also the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. The book won the 2000 Michael L. Printz Honor from YALSA in the United States. In 2007 it was selected by judges of the CILIP Carnegie Medal for children's literature as one of the ten most important children's novels of the past 70 years.

Plot summary

A boy, Michael and his family have moved into a new house that is very old and falling apart. He and his parents are anxious as his new baby sister was born prematurely and may not live, due to a heart condition. When Michael goes into the garage, amid all the boxes, debris and dead insects he finds a strange emaciated man. Michael assumes that he is a homeless person, but decides to look after him and takes him food, though he is crotchety and arthritic, demanding aspirin, Chinese food menu order numbers 27 and 53 and brown ale. Michael hears a story that human shoulder blades are a vestige of angel wings. Meanwhile his friends from school become more and more distant as Michael stops attending school and so spends less time with them.

He meets a girl named Mina from across the road and over the course of the story they become very close friends. Mina is home schooled and is interested in nature, birds, drawing and poems by William Blake to which her parents introduced her. She takes care of some baby birds who live in her garden and teaches Michael to hear their tiny sounds. Michael decides to introduce her to the strange old man. Michael asks about arthritis and how to cure it, talking to doctors and patients in the hospital where his baby sister is being treated. The man whom Michael had moved from the garage introduces himself as "Skellig" to Michael and Mina.

Michael's baby sister comes dangerously close to death and must undergo heart surgery. His mother goes to hospital to stay with the baby and, that night, dreams or sees Skellig come in, pick the baby up and hold it high in the air.

Ideas

The book is deliberately ambiguous about the "Skellig" Although the obvious implication is that he is some kind of angel, his general demeanour and attitude contrasts with traditional ideas about angels, leading the reader to consider ideas of religious imagery and the role of mysteries in life. There are obvious religious references in the text but, like the poet William Blake (who is quoted in the novel), many of them revolve around unconventional religious concepts. Early in the novel there are numerous references to evolution, some in a spiritual context.

The names "Skellig" and "Michael" are derived from the Skellig Islands off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland. One of them is Skellig Michael Island; St Michael is also the name of an archangel. The short text brings in so many ideas that readers and critics report widely divergent ideas of "what the book is about". Short speeches on art, love, health, life and death, evolution, nature, Blake, education and family share a common context.

In his research article "Magical Realism and the Child Reader: The Case of David Almond's Skellig", Don Latham compares Almond's novel to Gabriel García Márquez's short story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings". Latham states that despite the many similarities between the two works, Almond's child protagonists are much more caring and accepting than the close-minded and sometimes cruel adults in Márquez's story. Also, Mina and Michael keep Skellig a secret from the rest of human society. Thus, while still expressing negative comments on medical institutions and other aspects of adult society, the social commentary in Skellig is not as harsh as in Márquez's story. However, Almond himself has acknowledged that "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" had some influence on the writing of Skellig.

Prequel

In 2010 Almond's prequel to Skellig, was published — My Name is Mina.

Adaptations

2009 play

Skellig was adapted into a play in 2003 directed by Trevor Nunn, who thought it was important to follow the book's example of not revealing Skellig's exact nature. The play was later performed by Playbox Theatre Company in 2008. In March 2011 the play was performed at the New Victory Theatre, New York by the Birmingham Stage Company who previously toured the UK with their production

2008 opera

Skellig has been adapted into a contemporary opera with music by American composer Tod Machover and libretto by David Almond himself. The opera was staged at The Sage Gateshead from 4 November to 19 December 2008, with orchestration by the Northern Sinfonia. The Opera starred Omar Ebrahim as Skellig with Sophie Daneman and Paul Keohone as Michaels parents.

2009 film

Skellig, produced by Feel Films, was part of Sky 1's plan to invest £10 million in producing three new high-definition dramas. Filming started on 2 September 2008 in Caerphilly in Wales. Cast members included Oscar-nominee Tim Roth in the title role and Bill Milner as Michael Cooper with Skye Bennett as Mina, Kelly MacDonald and John Simm as Michael's parents (Louise 'Lou' and Steve Cooper). The film was scripted by Irena Brignull and directed by Annabel Jankel. The first showing of Skellig on Sky 1 was on 12 April 2009.