Corrick, Martin

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Corrick, Martin

PERSONAL: Male. Education: University of East Anglia, M.A.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of English, School of Humanities, University of Southampton, University Rd., Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, England. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER: Aircraft engineer and pilot. University of Southampton, Southampton, England, visiting fellow and lecturer in creative writing and literature.

WRITINGS:

The Navigation Log (novel), Random House (New York, NY), 2003.

After Berlin (novel; sequel to The Navigation Log), Gardners Books, 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Martin Corrick's first novel, The Navigation Log, is set in England in the early twentieth century. It is the story of identical twins Tom and William Anderson, born in London on the eve of the 1918 armistice. Their mother, Constance, is a reclusive artist who reacts to the unexpected pregnancy and birth by immediately having another child, Stella, to whom she devotes herself. Felix, their father and a postal worker and lay minister, gives the responsibility of raising the boys to his housekeeper, Millie, who is also his lover. The story continues forward for two decades, during which William becomes a scholar and teacher and Tom a pilot during World War II. A Kirkus Reviews writer felt that the separate stories of the two brothers "dovetail toward a satisfying close, in a momentarily peaceful churchyard echoing with complex images of death and rebirth."

Other characters in the novel include widow Marigold Jennings and spinster Miss Betty, neighbors who interject atmosphere and background. Both brothers seek love, but one finds it elusive. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that, "if Corrick's purpose was to construct a kaleidoscopic picture of a wartime generation through the seemingly aimless trajectory of particular lives, he has succeeded well." Booklist reviewer Meredith Parets called The Navigation Log "an understated and moving debut."