Foulness
By David Henningham
A haunting experimental novel set on the Essex coast during the Cold War.
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Foulness is an island off the Essex coast and its tidal path, where the cannons that sustained the British Empire through to the nuclear programme that marked its end were tested. A picturesque farming village remains at the heart of the barbed wire enclosure.
It is 1957 and James, a corporal with the Intelligence Corps, is instructed to camouflage a part of the military installation on the island. He quickly becomes embroiled in petty disputes with Sergeant Athling, the distant Major Edulis and an interfering secretary called Miss Bradshaw. But a cache of papers and artefacts will soon divert him to Victorian Tasmania, Abyssinia, and the tide of history that, almost unperceived, threatens to change their place in the world.
Structured in fourteen sections, each of which is named for a bird that nests on the island, James’s story is told musically: each of the sections are like the movements of a tone poem, evoking the strange, liminal atmosphere of the half-submerged island: It is a book about memory and erasure.
Foulness marks the arrival of an exciting new English novelist, whose writing conjures the oppressive ambience of Le Carré while extending the acute sensitivity to landscape and history of a W.G. Sebald or a Patrick Wright.
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David Henningham
David Henningham is an artist, author and bookbinder. He received his MA in sculpture at Slade School of Art in 2006.
He is co-founder, with Ping, of Henningham Family Press. Their artist’s books have been acquired by National Galleries Scotland, V&A, Tate, National Poetry Library and Stanford University. Their performance publishing events have taken place in the British Library, BBC Radio Theatre, Christie’s, Dundee Contemporary Arts and in Moscow with the British Council.As publishers, their novels have been shortlisted for The Goldsmith’s Prize, Republic of Consciousness Prize, British Book Awards and longlisted for The Walter Scott Prize.
Foulness is his first novel.
- 21st September 2021 Kittiwake : a Foulness poem
Let's take a tour of the book, starting with Kittiwake and the poetry that begins several of the chapters.
I've long been interested in the idea of poetry being embedded in novels. A way of setting the tone, or marking the passage of time. There are so many possibilites. This video, including a snippet from my Phoenix FM interview, expands on this process with Kittiwake as an example.
I…
9th September 2021 Unexploded HistoryThank you so much for your support for Foulness earlier in the year. We are returning now from our summer break and looking forward to resuming our fundraising efforts. Entering the season the story takes place in feels like a good omen!
Personal Recommendations
To reach our target we will need to find 350 subscribers. About 150 of these probably need to be people without prior knowledge…
10th June 2021 Broadcasting FoulnessReadings and Radio Appearances Promoting Foulness
The campaign to publish Foulness has continued steadily. Like a pirate radio station broadcasting from an isolated sandbank, I have appeared online to read from the book.
- The next appearance will be on Phoenix FM Monday 21st June, 1.15pm, when we will be discussing why Foulness Island is so fascinating, and the realtionship between fact…
30th April 2021 Oystercatchers : Choosing Slipcase ColoursThe First Milestone
I'm excited to have reached the first 10% of our target within the first week. This bodes well for achieving the total within the next 6 months. Thank you all for your support!
Oystercatchers
If you have pledged for the photo book in a slipcase, you will get to choose one from the table below. The novel is split into 12 chapters, each one named after a bird found…
These people are helping to fund Foulness.
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Anita Justice
Steve Pont
Neil Harrison
Alan Teder
Victoria Huggins
Mark Smith
Neil Burgess
Tim Harding
Mark Vent
Max McLaughlan
David Collard
Murray Macaulay
Alex Sherratt
Philip Contos
David Crisp
Kenneth Primrose
Pascal O'Loughlin
Tom Giles
Nicola Palmer
Catherine Miller
Paul Griffiths
Matt TYLER
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