“Clear” by Carys Davies
Like her two earlier books, “Clear” is short, but what the author manages to include in 146 pages is craftsmanship, telling a more complete story than many of her contemporaries would take far longer to recount. As I read this book I was thinking her stylish brevity places her alongside Claire Keegan.
Most of the events take place on a remote small fictitious Scottish island somewhere between the Shetlands and Norway. The reader is immersed in the surroundings, the weather, often inclement, plays a significant role in the narrative which basically covers just a month.
The three main characters we get to know quickly, their thoughts, their current situation and their earlier lives. Set in 1843 this is the time of Highland clearances; landlords favouring sheep over tenants.
Ivar is the sole inhabitant of the island; the rest of his family either choosing to emigrate or having perished at sea. Pegi, his horse, a blind cow and some sheep his companions until he discovers John Ferguson unconscious on the beach.
John and his wife Mary are destitute; he being a clergyman who has resigned his parish to help found the new Free Church of Scotland. Through family connections John takes on a remunerative mission to visit the island to tell Ivar he is being evicted. Nothing goes quite to plan, an accident after his arrival on the island makes him dependent on Ivar and the two become close even if neither can speak the other’s language, but John is a fast learner and they end up communicating; the text then is littered with dialect which enhances the story. Their is an Author’s endpiece about this which is worth reading when you finish the text.
This novella sits alongside her two earlier books, “West” and “The Mission”, set in the States and India respectively; also highly recommended and both popular with our regulars. Carys Davies is a very succinct author, her themes ambitious and diverse. Not a book to hurry as that would risk missing the quality of the language. Great for reading groups, being short should make it a popular choice!
