Description
Flying to Nowhere by John Fuller is an extraordinary, award-winning literary novel that won the 1983 Whitbread First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the 1983 Booker Prize.
Set on a remote Welsh island during the Middle Ages, the story begins when a church agent named Vane is sent to investigate the strange disappearance of pilgrims visiting a sacred well. At the same time, the island’s obsessive abbot conducts a macabre experiment of his own — dissecting corpses in a desperate attempt to locate the physical seat of the human soul.
As Vane searches for answers, what starts as a traditional historical investigation rapidly dissolves into a dark, surreal fable. Fuller — a celebrated Oxford poet — combines a haunting medieval setting with a poetic exploration of faith, mortality, and human obsession.
At just 88 pages, this brief, enigmatic novel bridges the gap between the miraculous and the macabre. It is a compelling discovery for readers who appreciate dark literary fiction, historical allegories, and unusual, atmospheric books that linger long after the final page.
