Be watchful of the jealous.

Publisher: Sphere (Little Brown)
Pages: 373
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 9780751541359
First Published: 1991
Date Reviewed: 2nd January 2012
Rating: 3.5/5

Please note that this is a review of the updated version of the book, which, it seems, was published in 2009.

Guyon’s (of The Wild Hunt) daughter Heulwen married Ralf, with whom she was infatuated – missing the affections Adam de Lacey was showing her. Now Ralf is dead, and despite the fact that Heulwen had always seen Adam as her brother since he was her father’s ward, she’s starting to feel differently about him. But Heulwen has all but said “I do” to Warrin de Mortimer, who, regardless of his arrogant nature, she is determined to marry. It will be a tough fight if Adam decides to give gaining Heulwen another shot, and both luckily and unluckily for him, there is more to Warrin than anyone knows.

The Running Vixen is a stand alone story that is relative to The Wild Hunt by way of the elders in the book – Heulwen’s parents are Guyon and Judith of The Wild Hunt, and they feature strongly enough in Heulwen’s story to warrant the reader going through the books in order. That said it is quite possible to read The Running Vixen by itself, as there is no back story prominent enough to be a concern.

The plot is simple and it is Chadwick’s talent for immersing the reader in history that keeps the book interesting. However there does come a point where you wonder what exactly kept Chadwick continuing the story, and while she later gives the reason, it was surely unnecessary draw it out. Sadly part of the interest in the book comes with the expectations given on its cover, which promise a forbidden love – the prospective reader may like to note that the family are quite happy with the match between Adam and Heulwen, as is the king, and this is obvious from the start considering Adam’s prestige.

The book contains many small battles, which make a good read albeit that there are many of them, and Chadwick includes information about why there were issues between the Normans and Welsh (the book’s main characters are entirely fictional, but the general setting is not).

If the story was stronger and had more “episodes” to it, The Running Vixen would be a fine specimen in Chadwick’s stack of books, but it is a little too everyday. The characters are good but similar to others of her creation, and while the main characters love each other they don’t tend to learn much about themselves as a couple when they surely should have.

If you have read some of Chadwick’s other books you will likely enjoy it but a new reader should leave it for a later time, as it is not the best example of what you can expect from the author. In this way, that it is the second in a series is of benefit.

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Social issues and politics inevitably blend together.

Publisher: Dodo Press (The Book Depository)
Pages: 260
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-1-4065-0366-1
First Published: 1917
Date Reviewed: 4th May 2012
Rating: 3.5/5

Bart lives with his aunt and uncle in a modest house in a modest village. He befriends a girl from a higher social class, but her reciprocation of his flourishing love is marked by periods of disdain for his humble status. One day he meets a senator and his life begins to change. Wanting to improve himself, Bart looks up to Mr Wright and learns from him. And Wright is more than willing to aid him in both his learning and his transition from child to adult, seeing how much potential he has.

The Light In The Clearing is rather like an American version of Great Expectations, only where Dickens exaggerates his themes, Bacheller dampens each down so that the story is far less dramatic. This has the effect of bringing more attention to those elements he does not share with Dickens, the overall result being to show how people can live with falseness and goodness and still manage to come out well.

Though it does take a long while for the book to become more than average. A lot of time is given to the every day, and there are many dialogues that are littered with accents that can be hard to decipher. The time spent at home, with Bart living with his poor relatives and later going to school, does not have enough interesting episodes to make it worthwhile, and it’s peculiar that Bacheller puts all his eggs in one basket – putting the majority of the romance, politics, and opinion in the last few chapters. Because those last few chapters are excellent, but it’s difficult to get that far.

The differences between poverty and wealth are contrasted throughout. Bart’s family are poor but they do their best to give Bart everything he needs, and it is really only when he goes to school that he learns that he is at a social disadvantage. His family and friends protect him, and Bacheller uses the whole concept to show where richness lies in love and accepting what you have. He also demonstrates that wealth does not always make a good person, and indeed the richer characters are often false and deceitful.

This theme is intertwined with the romance as Sally, for a time Bacheller’s own Estella Havisham in the making, flits between liking and disliking Bart, depending on how he is being treated by others and what he is wearing. Bacheller shows the innocence of a boy brought up to feel equal to others and contrasts it with Sally’s feelings about his poverty. The relationship between the affluent Dunkelberg and Baynes families, with its changes of friends and foe, expresses the idea of fair-weather friends.

It is the senator, Wright, and his entrance into the story, that signals the first of the changes in Bart. Wright is well-off in society, but as a resident in the town he has no problem befriending Bart, and it is Wright’s influence that gives Bart his goal in life and reminds him that he is indeed equal in nature’s eyes. Wright teaches Bart to be an adult, and to follow his heart rather than follow what society suggests. Wright’s own decision at the end of the book is a surprising but very heartening action that ministers of present parliaments would do well to observe.

Some of the politics, especially near the end, focuses on the abolition of slavery, the story being historical in Bacheller’s own time. The focus is not huge, and it is used more to set the scene, but there is enough material to gather an overview of how people at the time felt about it all. Where social relations are concerned, the person of Old Kate, a woman who blends fortune-telling with regular premonition, shows what happens to bad people who con their neighbours, with a morbid element thrown in for effect.

Whilst the first two thirds of the book are rather like Great Expectations, and there is even the inclusion of a room left the way it was after a last meal – and described rather like Miss Havisham’s abode – the latter third moves away completely from the classic, heading in the opposite direction on all accounts. The romance thread is confusing and the quickened pace of Bart’s progression from poor boy to lawyer is too fast to keep up with. But the overall atmosphere, the positives in the way that Bart overrules higher society’s choices, and the ethical Wright, makes the end an outstanding piece of work. It is just a pity it takes so long to get there.

The Light In The Clearing was the number two best-seller in America, but while it is easy to see why, for it’s political and social messages, it has not stood the test of time as well as it could have, and that is a shame. The length of time it takes to get somewhere, and that the time is spent on not so interesting tales of home life, does indeed encourage comparisons to the older work of Dickens, and not favourable ones.

The Light In The Clearing is a book that is worth a read, but not so much for pleasure as for studies of history. For history it is a fantastic fictional source but for pleasure the dampening of themes and 180 degree changes are too irregular to invite particular acclaim. It’s a good book, but its purpose has been served better elsewhere.

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If you love someone, stay with them.

Publisher: Faber & Faber
Pages: 304
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-571-23419-6
First Published: 2006
Date Reviewed: 20th December 2011
Rating: 2/5

This book’s plot is best summed up by giving a true (as in not what the back cover says) insight. Ansel was married to Gail but she recently died. Matthew was in love with Ani but ended up marrying Clara. Both men continue to live in the past – for one of them it’s sort of reasonable, for the other it’s really not right.

Certainty is a book that promises much but fails to deliver on all accounts. It details the day-to-day as well as the past, and while the information on war is interesting and worth reading, the rest is forgettable. The book brings all the characters together to celebrate Gail’s life before moving on to discuss Ansel’s present situation and then Matthew’s past. Gail, although dead, lives through both their memories and Thien’s inclusion of a short piece told about her actions before death. The issue is that the male characters are depressed and neither of them have a true reason to be since they set themselves up for upset; nor do they recommend themselves as good husband material.

This reviewer felt sorry for Ansel as Thien presented him as someone very much in love with his wife. Then a little further into the book she, Thien, tells us how Ansel went behind Gail’s back. This reviewer put the book down, and only returned to it over two months later because she likes to finish what she starts. She felt as betrayed as Gail had. Thien had been making me feel for Ansel and then suddenly told me how he cheated. Instead of feeling sorry for his loss I now found irony in the fact that Gail had died a short while after it all. Neither was I satisfied by Ansel’s admittance or the way he acted towards Gail in future – it all seemed false.

Then there’s Matthew. Clara gets with him and he tells her about the hard life he had, and about Ani, and Clara has to deal with his continuing depression over his father’s death. If it were that simple, okay, but the fact that Matthew is obviously also moping about Ani (who didn’t die) is just stupid. It sets Clara up as a weak follower who does Matthew’s bidding for nothing in return. Matthew should have stayed with Ani, should have waited until he finished university and gone back to her.

Thien’s characters have nothing redeemable about them, except Gail who is unfortunately already dead. The author obviously wanted to write a literary novel that would win awards, and it’s obvious, the writing is too flouncy and pretty and every sentence is short.

Thien goes into irrelevant details, telling us how things are made or prepared that have no bearing on the story whatsoever. And the use of flashbacks is ridiculous. Not only are they used far too much but also there are flashbacks within the flashbacks with no attempt to specify where one ends and another begins.

There is no story to this book – it’s as if the flowery language is supposed to be enough – the characters are pointless and unpleasant, and the women need to stop looking after men who love others instead of them.

The idea behind the book may be about not trusting that things are guaranteed, but all this reader took away from it was the feeling she’d wasted her time. Perhaps this has value as an art form, but barring that there are plenty of other books in the world that should be read and reading this means that one of the valuable ones won’t get a look in.

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A lot of surprises and shocks in a very short amount of time.

Publisher: Peirene Press
Pages: 116
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-9562840-6-8
First Published: 2010 in Finnish; 2012 in English
Date Reviewed: 2nd March 2012
Rating: 5/5

Original language: Finnish
Original title: He (They)
Translated by: Emily and Fleur Jeremiah

Henrik and Erik are back from the war between Sweden and Russia, where they were fighting on opposite sides. But this isn’t the only issue between them as they arrive home at different times. There has been animosity between them, and between Henrik and his family since childhood, and yet there is something else lingering in the darkness, ready to pounce.

Once again Peirene Press has delivered a stunning novella from the minds of continental Europe. However where previous publications have brought a few particular issues to the forefront of the mind, it is more the structure of this book that stands out. Entirely different in every way, it really does feel as though you are being introduced to Sahlberg, and perhaps Finnish writing in general, in a way that suggests that like the Nordic countries’ most internationally recognised musicians, their writings are in a wonderful realm all of their own.

What is perhaps most striking about the book is the way that it has been told and structured. The sectioning off of the story into short pieces, into the different points of view of the several characters, reads like a script from theatre. While Sahlberg (for although the book has been translated one can assume that Emily and Fleur Jeremiah have been as accurate as possible) does not break the fourth wall, the way that his characters tend to speak in the present tense, as a monologue, comes very close to it. And the very way in which each monologue begins is reminiscent of the strong introductions from the sorts of productions that critics of drama herald as magnificent. One cannot help but imagine how the book might be performed on stage, the monologues being strong enough in themselves that a group could simply sit on the stage with a spotlight to highlight the one speaking and the effect would be powerful enough to warrant use of props or set design as absolutely unnecessary.

The monologues are of varying lengths, indeed some are so short you would imagine that the structure would render those characters minor, and yet the separate elements of both the differing points of view offered, and the inclusion of the “quieter” characters in the speeches of others, means that almost every character is given full description and development by the end of the book. Ironically, it could be said that The Brothers manages to make a better attempt at fleshing out characters than many a longer and more linear novel. Here it is impossible not to imagine a director in future seeing it as perfect for the stage, Peirene Press’s description of it as a Shakespearean drama is surely most apt. And it would be noteworthy to include the fact that while you read each person’s point of view, the story never repeats old ground. The book continues to flow forward (accept for the odd flashback), as though the characters had got together beforehand to decide who would narrate each scene.

Moving on to the content itself, there is an interesting thing in the way that Henrik is the person everybody hates, yet he is the only one who can see how the house is falling apart. The way he speaks of it suggests that it is more than simply the house. And indeed there are tensions which it seems no one picks up on besides the individual themselves. Everyone hides everything from everyone else.

Should everyone direct their thoughts to Henrik? There are many times when Sahlberg implies that the reader ought to look at other people more critically, and remember that while Henrik is disliked widely, there are biases at work.

For such a short book, there really are a lot of twists, and you may find yourself wanting to adopt Anna’s period-centric response of putting hands to face in shock. A couple of the twists are more or less obvious from the outset, but it’s almost as if Sahlberg has made them obvious as a sort of compensation for the utter surprise that comes with the out-of-the-blue moments. The family is both closer and more estranged than you think. And the manifestation of their pain can be difficult to read.

Hate and love are two sides of the same coin, and where one party may think they are providing from one side, the other party may think the reverse is true. Such is the case often here. And those who have caused us pain may actually be the ones wanting a relationship where others have given up. Sahlberg’s story may be historical, but there is a great deal that is relevant on an eternal level. Intriguing, mesmerising, upsetting in so many ways, and always surprising, The Brothers proves that length and time are not necessary ingredients in order to take a person on an immense journey.

I received this book for review from Peirene Press.

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For richer, for poorer, whether worked for or stolen.

Publisher: Sphere (Little Brown)
Pages: 406
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-7515-3940-0
First Published: 1999
Date Reviewed: 22nd February 2012
Rating: 4.5/5

Miriel had never seen eye to eye with her parents and, being unable to deal with her as both his daughter and the object of his lust, her step-father throws her into a convent. But Miriel won’t be staying – this she decides immediately. On finding a wounded man and bringing him to the convent, she comes up with a plan. Nicholas, for his part, is on the run from his captors, and upon leaving the convent goes in search of the treasure he had taken and hidden. When he sees Miriel following he agrees to guard her passage – but just as he didn’t bet on falling for her, he also didn’t bet on her running off with the money.

The Marsh King’s Daughter contains a very different story to other books by Chadwick you may have read. Set in the midst of bustling towns and featuring a cold ancient convent and merchant trips across the sea, it is quite the world away from tales of castles and battles for land. Indeed the book sports a somewhat nautical narrative that provides a good if brief background to medieval shipping.

There is a lot of content about commerce, with plenty of looks at the economy at large and the day-to-day workings of production and trade. This is not only a boon for the story, it also sets further background context for the era that Chadwick favours.

The author likes a brave hero, one who is strong and has morals that fit our present day, yet is undoubtedly a historical person. Nicholas is the subject this time and while he is not as spotlight stealing as Miriel – neither, for that matter, as stubborn – he nevertheless is someone to root for. Miriel is stubborn, as said, sometimes a little too much, but then she is always aware of the discomfort of her position as a female business owner. The characters are delightful and hateful in turn, and as always Chadwick has created memorable personalities. Some of them even truly existed.

The setting and subjects in the book make it perhaps more detailed than others, but it allows for a study into gender roles in the Middle Ages, and shows what could happen when they were turned on their head.

The romance is complex. It’s a case of wondering what could have been while making up for time. So of course memories surface, and there is a sort of anti-romance in the marriage Miriel makes. Miriel’s husband is another good blend of medieval and modern only in his case Chadwick makes things not as positive. Possession is nine tenths of the law.

The book is good in the way that it can command interest, however towards the end it’s easy to wonder why it is still going, even if the inevitable ending is yet to come. There is a lot of angst that is heartbreaking but it fits the story and characters. Miriel is a trooper but her decisions can be hard to comprehend for their foolhardiness. Though sometimes it is the decision of others that are hard to swallow and the reader is presented with the tough lives lead before equality and healthcare.

The Marsh King’s Daughter succeeds in creating a detailed vision of the trading business and of illustrating the way people at the lower to middle section of society communicated and treated one another. And it delves into piratical realms often forgotten about. Miriel may not allow the crown out of her sight, but Chadwick can at least add a feather to her cap.

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