Guinevere Glasfurd

I only recently learned about 'the year without summer' of 1816 but my imagination was immediately piqued and I was glad to find Guinevere Glasfurd's fictional account of events. In April 1815, Mount Tambora in present day Indonesia erupted with greater violence than Krakatoa and killed many thousands of people. The effects of the eruption were also measured around the world in terms of both environmental and social damage - seasons were reversed in Europe and America, causing crop failures and exacerbating existing conditions of poverty.

Glasfurd brings the aftermath of the volcano to life from the perspective of two well-known names and three brave but ordinary figures merely trying to survive during a cold summer: struggling artist John Constable, Frankenstein author Mary Godwin, farm worker Sarah Hobbs in Norfolk, a soldier returning from the Napoleonic wars and in Vermont, America, a preacher keen on establishing his name in a rural community.

I absolutely loved the individual narratives which make up this historical account of 1815 and could have read separate novels for each of the characters. Also I learned so much about Constable's art, Mary Godwin's family and the holiday to Geneva which resulted in her famous novel, and the social unrest and riots in England following the Napoleonic Wars - a dramatic period of history which readers of Jane Austen will remain blissfully unaware of!

All of the characters are either historical figures or based on real people. Sarah Hobbs, with the only first person narrative in the story, was based on a young farm labourer from Ely who was found guilty of rioting and sentenced to a year in gaol. Five men convicted alongside her were executed as a warning! Her voice is lively and likeable, written in a local, uneducated dialect, and I really felt for her impossible living conditions but also admired the fire she had to fight back. In contrast, Charles Whitlock, the preacher in Vermont, is an insidious character who professes godly motives but actually ruins everything - and everyone - he touches. He brought to mind Mr Collins from Pride and Prejudice, but written by Flannery O'Connor.

An well-researched novel with believable narratives, recommended as a personal but powerful introduction to 'the year without a summer'.… (más)

In 1815 the battle of Waterloo is won and in Indonesia a massive volcanic eruption occurs. For one ship's surgeon, seeing the devastation is frightening. A year later and in Vermont there is a terrible drought, crops cannot survive, animals and humans are starving. Meanwhile in The Fens revolt against enclosures is brewing and in London revolt against taxes and prices is also afoot, snow in summer means crops have failed. For painter John there is a battle between love and the artistic muse and in Switzerland Mary sees a flood of refugees as starvation bites the poor.
Based on a series of true stories this book weaves the lives of six individuals into the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Tambora. Two of the narrators are wellknown, Mary Shelley discovering her muse and John Constable making a shift in his painting, but it is the four others that provide the most moving testimony. This is a great book in that it tells a very human tale which, although fictionalised is based on a worldwide tragedy.… (más)