Tisala

About this book

This piece of contemporary fiction starts in 1960 with David, a young London biologist researching in the Scottish Islands encounters a Blue Whale – Tisala. David becomes convinced that the whale is trying to communicate. With the help of an acoustic engineer a breakthrough is made. Two worlds meet. The whale, Tisala, wants David to help save the few remaining Blue Whales from being hunted to extinction. Set against the background history of whaling, the cruel slaughter of the greatest mammals on earth, and the struggle to stop it, the existence of a higher intelligence emerges.

This is a story of love, passion and friendship in which the lives of Tisala and David are bound up with the problems of the modern world. In the sweep of twentieth century history, Tisala comes to understand that mankind threatens its own future as well as much of life on Earth. In this philosophical and satirical novel Richard Seward Newton, through Tisala, turns his mind to the great issues facing humanity, from war, religion and population to education, economics and ethics, and seeks to distil the knowledge and wisdom that might lead to a happier world. It is an astonishing voyage of exploration in understanding the world in which we live. A profound, sad, hope-filled, epic story.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1: My Aunt Jane
Chapter 2: In the Scottish Islands
Chapter 3: The Meeting
Chapter 4: In London
Chapter 5: The Return
Chapter 6: Robert Thompson
Chapter 7: The Party
Chapter 8: Progress
Chapter 9: A Visit to Wiltshire
Chapter 10: Retrospect
Chapter 11: The Future
Chapter 12: Three Years: A New Education
Chapter 13: At Fieldbanks House
Chapter 14: Tisala's World
Chapter 15: The Legend of Tisano
Chapter 16: The Coming of Whaling
Chapter 17: Siana
Chapter 18: The Antarctic Opened - 1904-1914
Chapter 19: Saba
Chapter 20: The Great Death - 1928-1939
Chapter 21: Ellie's Day
Chapter 22: A New Life
Chapter 23: Consumer Products
Chapter 24: In the Image of God
Chapter 25: The Advance of Death
Chapter 26: The Beginning of the End?
Chapter 27: The Struggle
Chapter 28: A Glimmer of Dawn
Chapter 29: On Evolution
Chapter 30: The Coming of Darkness
Chapter 31: Alone
Chapter 32: Will and Penny
Chapter 33: On the Origins of Belief
Chapter 34: On Religions
Chapter 35: Against Exclusivity
Chapter 36: On Power and Hell
Chapter 37: Whaling 1964-75
Chapter 38: The Russian Trawler
Chapter 39: On War and Peace
Chapter 40: The Nuclear Threat
Chapter 41: Eric and Family
Chapter 42: Illicit Whaling and the Moratorium
Chapter 43: On Population
Chapter 44: Human Numbers and Restraint
Chapter 45: Economic Resources
Chapter 46: A Visit to the Tropics
Chapter 47: Music
Chapter 48: Eric
Chapter 49: On Education
Chapter 50: Aspects of Learning
Chapter 51: Guinevere's Grief, and Susannah
Chapter 52: The Terrible Event
Chapter 53: Aftermath
Chapter 54: London, 1983 and Ethics
Chapter 55: On the Origin of Christianity
Chapter 56: Vancouver
Chapter 57: London and Susannah
Chapter 58: On Inis Cuan Again
Chapter 59: On Happiness
Chapter 60: A Wedding
Chapter 61: On Meaning and Value in Life
Chapter 62: Whaling: 1980s and the Japanese
Chapter 63: Families
Chapter 64: The Nation State, War and Peace
Chapter 65: Hopes and Peace
Chapter 66: Europe - a New Beginning?
Chapter 67: The Parliament of the World
Chapter 68: On Modern Whaling and the Future
Chapter 69: Guinevere and Heaven
Chapter 70: Changing Beliefs
Chapter 71: Final Days
Chapter 72: Valete

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Biography

Richard Seward Newton's family home was in Surrey. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford where he studied history and English literature. He was a lawyer before becoming a lecturer in London. He now lives with his wife near Bath. After meeting a whale when he was a student, Richard spent many years researching the natural history and biology of whales, and the horrific history of their near-destruction at the hands of mankind. The whales' story, together with Richard's experience of practical human affairs and his life-long interest in history, literature and science have come together in this profound and fascinating book, Tisala, his first novel.