M.A. Cumiskey Examines Struggles of Immigrants in Novel

Author M.A. Cumiskey grew up with immigrant grandparents whose experiences figured in many discussions within their family. In “Huntsman: A Novel” (published by Xlibris UK in October 2010), Cumiskey examines these experiences through the story of a writer navigating his way through a strange, isolated community. Set for a new marketing campaign, the book also offers a glimpse into what it means to live and survive in a world with rapidly shifting moral and cultural values. Readers may visit https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-0301179049 to purchase and know more about the book.

“Huntsman” follows Paul, a writer who is subject to many of the same insecurities and confusions prevalent in today’s society. He attends the funeral of his estranged mother where he meets one of her ex-colleagues – an interesting older man: James. It is whilst staying in James’ cottage in the far reaches of a Yorkshire moor that Paul meets and becomes associated with the small community who live together in an isolated location called the Mount. As he slowly immerses himself in the community, Paul finds his value system challenged, an experience further complicated by his affair with Kate, his highly unconventional neighbor.

As the book reflects on the manner of adaption necessary to accommodate the changes in moral and cultural values, Cumiskey hopes that it may persuade the readers to reconsider their tolerance levels for others with very different beliefs and practices.

An excerpt from the novel reads,
“Those souls who experience a conversion to a new belief inevitably prove to be the most devout of practitioners. Traditionally, one finds that the greater the contrast between the new creed and what went before, the more zealous the new graduate. Maybe the converse is equally true – perhaps for the first time that cynicism I have always affected now has a credible sense of reality; an advent of maturity promising the loss of gullibility. With this in mind therefore perhaps the only true cynics are those like me who are converted from romanticism.”

“Huntsman: A Novel”
By M.A. Cumiskey
Hardcover | 6x9 in | 287 pages | ISBN 9781456807344
Softcover | 6x9 in | 287 pages | ISBN 9781456807337
E-Book | 287 pages | ISBN 9781456807351
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author
Mike Cumiskey has taught and lectured extensively throughout the United Kingdom and his sculpture and drawings are represented in a variety of collections in Germany, France, England, the USA and Canada, including the national collection of Trinidad and Tobago. In 1974, he was awarded the Ronald Tree Fellowship in sculpture to the University of the West Indies. Currently he lives and works in Devon with his wife, Sue. They have three children.

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