Note 1: The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey

What is it?

First published in 2018. Set in the 15^th Century in a village in Somerset,  the novel details the events over four days on and before Shrove Tuesday - the beginning of Lent.

Narrated by the village priest John Reve, it begins  with the discovery of a drowned man by the river. The Rural Dean arrives to investigate and suspects it is murder.  The priest and the villagers are swept up in his search for the culprit. Over the course of the story, told in reverse, beginning on Shrove Tuesday and ending four days earlier,  we learn who the drowned man was and how he met his end. 

The novel plays with and eventually confounds our expectations of how such a  ‘crime’ might be solved. In doing so it describes in detail the  religious and superstitious beliefs of the villagers,  contrasting their apparent honesty during their Lenten confessions,  with the behaviour of their priest Reve who we discover has weaknesses of his own. 

Why read it?

We were divided about the book. So that made for a lively discussion! We all agreed that it was an unusual and surprising take on the murder/mystery novel, also that it gave a vivid and colourful description of life in a medieval village with all its smells, mess and mud.  Fans of the book found the central character of the priest convincing and engaging: we get to know him and trust him as his parishioners do. This makes his behaviour,  which is gradually uncovered,  particularly surprising.  Our expectations are also subverted when the truth about the suspicions of the Rural Dean, an unsympathetic figure from the start,  is finally revealed.  Fans thought the book had some interesting things to say about truth and its relationship to faith and also about the power of self-deception (perhaps another kind of faith?.  It raises questions for today about fake news, demonstrating how people can convince themselves and others of a ‘truth’ when the very opposite is the case.

Why give it a miss?

While some of us found the plot powerful and intriguing,  others disagreed:  they thought the villagers’ confessions were too long winded. They also felt that the reverse time structure, together with the number of characters, made it hard to keep track of the story.  Also that there was a risk you might feel a bit tricked by the way the plot twists and turns towards the ending. 

What we asked

Why did author choose this time and place to set the book ? 

What is it saying about religious faith?

What does the western wind signify? God’s forgiveness, wishful thinking or something else?

Does telling the  story backwards work? What does it do to the narrative and our expectations?

What is the author suggesting would be the upshot of John Reve’s behaviour?

Will the village survive the predatory monks?

Is the Dean there to represent scepticism?  Does he show us how we should really have reacted to Reve and Carter’s account?

Score 

A mix of 4s and 3s. So about 3.75 overall.

Keep?  

Three of us decided to keep it, two to give it away.