A good book for a winter nights. Wakenhyrst is described as “a darkly gothic thriller” gothic it defiantly is which I love. the novel is about murderous obsession and one ladies life long fight to fly free of society and her father’s rule. the narrative follows Maud living the life of a recluse for 50 years in the tiny village of Wakenhyrst in the Suffolk fens.
After Maud’s mother tragically died in childbirth, she was raised by her father, a historian and a controlling man. its a devastating part of life in Maud’s history and you as the read can feel nothing but contempt at how this tragedy is so coldly dealt with. from that moment you know who Maud will be pitted against her whole life. in Maud’s eyes her father is already a murderer but is he guilty of more? Maud is a lonely child who secretly reads her father’s personal journals, he overlooks her as an equal and she is only a possession and disappointment to him. yet we the reader see she is much more.
I found the story to be awesome, but I do not like that so much of the narrative is taken up by the man’s journals and the reading of them. I found myself put off by his annoying scholarly tone and attitudes. However, this annoyance plays right into Paver’s skill as a writer and its only right that I find the man disagreeable. I do love all the folklore references and even the mediaeval influences. A book of Excellent quality.
Oak Tree and Stars by BlueFalcon1983 