About the Author

John Ironmonger was born and grew up in East Africa. He has a doctorate in zoology, and was once an expert on freshwater leeches. He is the author of The Good Zoo Guide and the novels The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder (shortlisted for the 2012 Costa First Novel Prize and the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize), The Coincidence Authority and The Whale at the End of the World (an international bestseller). He has also been part of a world record team for speed reading Shakespeare, has driven across the Sahara in a 100 banger, and once met Jared Diamond in a forest in the middle of Sumatra.

Reviews

a warm-hearted book crammed with interesting ideas. It's a book full of doomsday predictions with a Cityboy in a starring role that makes the world seem like a more hopeful place. It's also very, very good.
*EMERALD STREET*

This is a tremendously enjoyable book. And as the front pages crowd with headlines that grow ever more grim, Not Forgetting the Whale offers a very welcome alternative.
*INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY*

An intriguing and thought-provoking story
*CANDIS*

An exciting and moving read
*ESSENTIALS*

The lives of the residents in sleepy St Piran is changed when a man washes up, half drowned, on the shore of the Cornish seaside village.
*THE TIMES*

It's easy to see this simply as a modern interpretation of the story of Jonah and the whale, but this charming tale by John Ironmonger.. is considerably more complex.. it's a love story of sorts and, above all, it's about hte innate goodness of people and our connections with the wider world
*PRESS ASSOCIATION*

A gentle and uplifting tale of warding off apocalypse in a remote corner of Cornwall . . . charming
*FINANCIAL TIMES*

This book achieves what should be impossible: a heart-warming dystopia. Forget everything you know about apocalypses. This novel, set in Cornwall, will restore your faith in humanity.
*ELLE UK*