3/4/2019 1 Comment Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
A Medieval Doom painting, an Anglo-Saxon saint, mythical creatures, a magpie, an historian, dead babies, the groaning sickness and a big old house. A fantastic gothic tale.
The story is set in Edwardian England in the fens of Suffolk. An intelligent, lonely girl does two things she shouldn't - read her father's journal and go out to the fens on her own. She discovers things that are fixed in folklore, hearsay and superstition and questions the concepts of reality, God and madness. As well as that, her father is not a very nice man at all.
Her father is an historian and is afraid of the power of a Doom painting he finds. What drives this fear and what he can do about it are the forces of the story. There are a lot of positives in this book, one being the original idea and excellent writing. The attitudes of the Edwardians is aptly captured, particularly with regard to the general views about social class and women, the beliefs and religion. But my personal favourite is the research by the historian father into the life of Saint Guthlaf, who is obviously based on Saint Guthlac of Crowland, one of the more colourful Anglo-Saxon saints. Paver's knowledge and enthusiasm for history, research and folklore shines through this wonderful book. There is a great sense of place as the fens are portrayed in all of their murky mystery without long descriptive passages. And viewing the world through the eyes of a child, particularly the 'disease' of childbirth, is poignantly captured. Great book, beautifully written and highly recommended.
Wakenhyrst is published by Head of Zeus on 4 April 2019. Advanced review copy supplied by the publisher.
1 Comment
Alex
5/5/2019 01:57:34 pm
Sounds fantastic!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Books of the Month
Best Selling Psychological Fiction
Reviews by Year of PublicationAll 1844 1866 1889 1897 1932 1935 1942 1946 1950 1951 1953 1954 1960 1962 1969 1971 1974 1977 1978 1983 1984 1985 1989 1991 1994 1995 1996 1997 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 |
© Copyright 2012-2022 A.J. Sefton
|