Not sure what I think of this. There's beauty on a barren Scottish isle, loneliness, a sense of humanity and hope all in one! ( )

Late for Paula's Dewithon at Book Jotter by over a month, this is my 13th review of a novel by a Welsh author. Carys Davies' Clear is her third novel... her debut was West, (2018) which was shortlisted for the Folio Prize, longlisted for the European Literature Prize, Runner Up for the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize, and winner of the Wales Book of the Year for Fiction. Her second novel The Mission House was The Sunday Times 2020 Novel Of The Year, and I reviewed it here.

While her style and preoccupations are different, Davies is like the Irish writer Clare Keegan in the sense that she writes short novels and novellas with poetic clarity where not a word is wasted, and while both writers set their fiction in the past, these 'historical novels' are more about a reckoning with the past. In Clear, Davies brings us the human story behind the notorious clearances that denuded Scotland of its rural population in the 18th and 19th century. As she explains in the Author's Note at the back of the book:

Whole communities of the rural poor were forcibly removed from their homes by landowners in a relentless programme of coercive and systematic dispossession to make way for crops, cattle and — increasingly as time went on — sheep. (p.148)

Davies constructs her story around another cataclysmic event in Scotland: the Disruption of 1843 when 474 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. In the story, John Ferguson joins this movement, in revolt against landowners' rights to confer clerical livings to suit themselves. His decision means the loss of home and income, and so it is that his brother-in-law wangles a job for him, to tide him over his more-than-awkward financial situation.

The job is to sail to a (fictional) remote northern island between Shetland and Norway, to dispossess the sole remaining inhabitant. It seems an unchristian task for a devout minister to take on, but John Ferguson is naïve about what's involved (and not just because the landowner Henry Lowrie and his factor Strachan were evasive about it). John is also desperate, distraught about the financial plight inflicted on his beloved wife Mary. And, for a man of faith, it is also a means to an end... the sixteen pounds is not just for them, it is also a substantial amount to begin setting up the infrastructure for the new church.

The story weaves between three perspectives: that of John Ferguson; of his more clear-sighted wife Mary and of the sole inhabitant, Ivar.

To read the rest of my #NoSpoilers review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/05/12/clear-2024-by-carys-davies/ ( )

Based during the Scottish Clearances in the 1840s when the rural poor were evicted, this is the riveting story of John Ferguson, a poor Scottish minister, his wife, Mary and an unforgettable character named Ivar. John is paid to evict Ivar from his home with no knowledge of each other's languages. John's fall down a cliff renders him unconscious when he is found by Ivar, the island's sole occupant and the subject of John's eviction. As Ivar slowly nurses John back to health, they develop a bond and friendship that is transforming for both. This short novel is exquisitely written and a true testament to the human spirit. ( )

The book had very short chapters. Many of the pages after a chapter were blank, but counted in this 185 page novel. I am glad I borrowed it from my library. I would have felt ripped off if I bought the short story as I thought it was a book.

Two male characters were the only people on an island. I kept thinking "Stockholm syndrome" as they got closer and closer. The predictable conclusion between the two disappointed me.

The endwhere Mary proposed Mary and John become Mary and John and Ivarwas something I think all will regret in less than a week.

100 members; 4.24 average rating; 4/29/2024 ( )

I’m not sure how I felt about this novel. It moves slowly and at times seems to go nowhere and then the feelings of the 3 characters drew me in as their stories unfold. ( )