The Western Wind / Samantha Harvey

Set just before Lent in a small English village in the late Middle Ages, The Western Wind is told entirely from the point of view of its priest, John Reve. Mostly through his private thoughts and internal dialogue, he recounts the apparently accidental death of the hamlet's most influential inhabitant, Thomas Newman, who allegedly drowned in the river that separates Oakham from the rest of society. Reve's concerns also turn to the events big and small that occur around this tragedy: his beloved sister's wedding and subsequent departure; the 3 days' worth of confessions he receives; his pleas with God for a Western wind; the second failure at constructing a bridge over the impassable river; the strange debilitating illness afflicting a young woman freshly returned from a pilgrimage; the threat to the village by envious monks; the facial injury incurred by the young man who saw Newman twice in the river; the dean's cavalier appropriation of Newman's house and goods... Throughout, Reve's sense of powerlessness is palpable and all too understandable.

By virtue of his position, John Reve has no one in whom he can confide, and so the book acts as a confessional — a written counterpart to the makeshift wooden box that stands in the little community's church. It exposes and explores the uncertainties, ambiguities, disorientations and dilemmas that emerge when things are about to shift, as they do here in multiple ways. Indeed, we are at the very end of the Middle Ages, Reve's companionable life with his sister is over, the period of relative ease before Lent is coming to a close, and it appears inevitable that the peace and prosperity of Oakham (which itself sits on the edge of a waterway) has run its course.

Despite its unfortunate anachronisms, this is a remarkable novel not only owing to the reverse structure of its 4-day narrative, but also by virtue of its profoundly human and introspective nature. 

I was provided with a free electronic copy of this book through NetGalley by the publisher, Grove Atlantic, in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ****