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Robert Edric
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Book
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Publisher | Doubleday | ||
ISBN | 9780385603126 | ||
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Reviewer
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Jayne
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Synopsis
It is 1847, northern England, and Charles Weightman has been given the unenviable task of overseeing the flooding of the Forge Valley and evicting its lingering inhabitants. Weightman is heartily resented by these locals, and he himself is increasingly unconvinced both of the wisdom of his appointment and of the integrity and motives of the company men who posted him there. He finds some solace, however, in his enigmatic neighbour, Mary Latimer. Caring for her mad sister, Mary is also an outsider, and a companionship develops between the two of them which offers them both some comfort and support in their mutual isolation. As winter closes steadily in and as the waters begin to rise in the Forge Valley, it becomes increasingly evident that the man-made deluge cannot be avoided; not by the locals desperate to save their homes, nor by the reluctant agent of their destruction, Weightman himself. In a masterful new novel, Edric captures powerful human emotions with grace and precision. The hauntingly resonant backdrop to this story of David and Goliath marks Edric's dramatic return to historical literary fiction.
Review
Gathering the Water is set in 1847, Northern England and Charles Weightman has been given the task of overseeing the flooding of Forge Valley and evicting the lingering inhabitants. Weightman is heartily resented by the locals, and he himself is increasingly unconvinced both of the wisdom of his appointment and what he is really needed for?
Why was he chosen to do this uneviable task? Because his masters felt he was the best man for the job or perhaps his bosses were just to scared to do the work themselves. When the valley starts to flood and the waters begin to rise in the Forge Valley, no-one is safe not even Weightman. Nobody can save their homes because when water is diverted down a different route it becomes the manmade deluge which cannot be stopped by anyone.
This is a book which is multi-facetted, yet I needed to continue to the end to find out what happened. There is are no real morals within the book, except the fact that the people wanting to flood the valley were just to indifferent, and uncaring about what would happen to those made homeless and who also lost their livings earned upon the mountainside. The writing is brilliant, and the story line is great, and on a very interesting subject and I felt for those people losing their homes. I enjoyed this book and will lookout for more by the same author and see if catch the interest of the reader in a similar way.
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