The Mill for Grinding Old People Young - Tapa blanda

'The mark of successful historical fiction is that it has unforced resonances for the time it is being read in. The Mill for Grinding Old People Young is such a novel . . . [the] mix of the real and the imagined gives Patterson s novel both depth and charge . . . In Gilbert Rice he has created a humane hero for his times as well as ours.' --Mary Morrisey, Irish Times

'Gilbert Rice is as complex a figure as Patterson has created. His life embodies the art of deception; he debunks stereotype; and the voice of the older Gilbert, the voice of the prose, contains all the nuance of one whose life has run the gamut from disappointment to achievement. The last dozen pages change voice and direction, framing Gilbert in others words. They bring completion to the story, along with a sense of documentary authenticity and pathos and a true sense of real lives lived.' --Tom Adair, Scotsman

'As with all good love stories, you care what happens to the characters . . . to give away the ending would be a disservice to Patterson, whose solid craftsmanship is evident throughout . . . he has fashioned a love story in which two people from wildly different backgrounds are thrown together in circumstances that will transform their lives.' --David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

In the cold dawn of Christmas Day 1897, Gilbert Rice, 85-years-old and in failing health, recounts his journey into manhood in a city on the cusp of great change. Belfast in the 1830s was a city in flux. Industrialisation had led to an increase in population as workers flocked to the newly created jobs. Gilbert, a young man with prospects, begins work with the Ballast Office, supervising Belfast Port. But in the course of his days - and nights - abroad in the town, Gilbert becomes aware of tensions old and new. When he meets Maria, a Polish exile from Russian persecution, he is drawn into a love affair that will drive him to an act that could change his life, and the town's, for ever. The Mill for Grinding Old People Young is a brilliantly imaginative and moving historical novel. It evokes a vanished city that resonates powerfully with our contemporary anxieties.