I really liked this actually, it's a lovely story, but it was just so short. I wish it had lingered more on certain moments, fleshed things out a bit. It feels like there are the seeds of an excellent story here, but the length really prevented me from feeling as invested in this story as I would've liked to. I wanted more development, more focus on particular scenes, just MORE in general.

In the 1840s, a poor minister from the new Free Church of Scotland has accepted a job to clear the one remaining islander from a remote island north of Shetland during the Highland Clearances. He leaves behind his wife, Mary, while he does this. Ivar, the islander, comes across the injured body of the minister, John, who has had a fall and tends him back to health, not knowing who he is or why he is there. The two do not speak the same language but a relationship builds over the few weeks John is on the island as he develops a dictionary of Ivar’s dying language.

The book is beautifully written and it’s an interesting story but I was a little frustrated by it, particularly its length. It’s only 160 pages long and to me that just wasn’t enough to do the story justice, especially as a lot of the text was more interested in the words of the island language (the author says the idea came to her after she came across a dictionary such as the one described, and it shows). The relationship between the two develops nicely but we never really get to know them very well – for instance, surely the minister who gets upset at the idea of dancing would have been very conflicted about his developing feelings but it’s never really covered. Mary, John’s wife, sounds like she could have been a far more interesting character as she’s unusual for her time, but she’s almost peripheral and the ending just felt too trite and rushed for me.

I did enjoy this as far as it went but I think I would have enjoyed it far more if it was twice as long and went into a bit more depth.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

#Clear #NetGalley

Scotland in the 184os - a Presbyterian minister is sent to a remote Scottish island to evict the last man living there. Things don't go the way he expects, and he slowly start to bond with the islander. Moving, atmospheric and unexpected.

I read Davies’ previous novella, West, earlier this year and absolutely adored it so I went into this with high expectations – and it did not disappoint. She has created another masterpiece in miniature, a book that is so much grander in scope than you would believe could be squeezed into 160 pages.

It begins, in 1843, with a boat struggling through the waves to reach an isolated island far off the north coast of Scotland. Onboard is John Ferguson, a poor church minister, whose reasons for making this journey are not altogether clear at first. The island’s only (human) inhabitant is Ivar, a man who ekes a living from the bare land and the last remaining speaker of a language that has otherwise been lost to the mists of time. Left behind on the Scottish mainland is John’s wife Mary.

I don’t want to say too much more about the story because part of the joy of this book was seeing how it all unfolds, with all the little unexpected turns and diversions that Davies drops in along the way. At the centre of the story are the relationships between these three people and how human connections can be made regardless of the barriers, whether language or background, that are in the way. It’s a story of people being buffeted by the tides of history, like driftwood in a swelling sea, but by clinging to their basic human decency and kindness never allow themselves to become submerged or sunk. The ending I found to be uplifting and completely unexpected but also in hindsight, somehow, the only ending that made sense.

Davies really is a magnificent writer - her prose is spare but beautiful, unfussy but poetic. She wonderfully manages to conjure a landscape into such vivid life I really felt like I was transported to this island. I could feel the cold wind stinging my face; taste the salt in the air, whipped up off a roaring sea; hear the squelch of waterlogged boots as they struggle through a bog. And that was one actually one of the themes that really stuck with me from this book – the importance that language has in allowing us to comprehend and connect with the natural world around us.

I really thought this book was magnificent – tender and uplifting, dealing with themes of isolation, loss and love.

Clear by Carys Davies, is a historical novel which draws inspiration from two major events in Scottish history: the Highland Clearances, when over several decades in the 18th and 19th centuries, many rural communities of crofters were forcibly evicted by landowners, and the formation of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843, after a schism which saw several ministers leave the established Church of Scotland.

John is one of the rebel ministers. Recently married in his middle age to independent-minded Mary, and facing penury after losing his paid tenure, he accepts a job offered to him by a land manager which requires him to visit a (fictional) remote island beyond the Shetlands to evict its remaining occupant, Ivar. This distant destination is alien to John, the rugged landscape magnificent yet forbidding, the language of Ivar foreign and difficult to understand. For John, this will be a journey of discovery.

Clear’s historical setting is well researched and authentically rendered. Yet Davies is less interested in plot and narrative than in the psychological and emotional interplay between the cast of main characters – John, Mary and Ivar. As in her previous books (I had enjoyed West when I read it some years ago), Davies’ writing is atmospheric, introspective and poetic. This is a slim book with a rich aftertaste.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2023/10/clear-by-carys-davies.html

Ivar, the only remaining inhabitant on a remote Scottish island in the mid nineteenth century, ekes out a basic existence, until he finds an injured man unconscious on the beach. John Ferguson is a clergyman from a break-away church, who out of financial desperation has made the journey to evict Ivar so that sheep may be grazed on the island. Ivar takes Ferguson back to his home and nurses him back to health, and despite the men having no shared language a strong bond develops between them. Meanwhile, Ferguson’s wife Mary becomes increasingly concerned, and time is running out for Ivar. This a is a beautiful, lyrical novella about life beyond convention, the loss of traditional ways of life, how communication and relationships can develop in the most unlikely situations and the ultimate power of love. Davies’s writing is very evocative and sensual, she builds up a wonderful sense of place and small details bring the narrative and characters to life ( Mary’s false teeth, Ivar’s teapot, the photo of Mary that Ivar becomes so attached to until he has another living person to engage with). Unforgettable.

John Ferguson is sent to a remote Scottish Island to evict its only inhabitant. Suffering an accident on the island, the lone Ivar nurses John back to health. Only Ivar speaks a language unknown to John, and so the understanding and empathy becomes more primal. Interspersed is the story of Mary, John's wife, and her life apart from her husband.

Carys Davies' novel is a slow-burn, contemplative and serene masterpiece of controlled, poetical prose. She evokes the wonder and wilderness of rural Scottish Island life, and one can taste the sea air in its pages.

This is another very fine, beautiful novel from a writer that is at the height of her powers.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

Quite captivating. Certainly pulls you back to a period of the past that saw many suffer.
Not a quick page turner, nor a can’t put down book, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

John Ferguson, a Presbyterian minister who is embroiled in the creation of the new Free Church and desperate for money, takes a job which will take him away from all he knows, including his wife, Mary, and leave him on a remote Scottish island, where he is tasked with telling the sole occupant that he must move away - yet Ferguson does not speak the language.

Ivar, living alone on the island since the death of his family, with only his chickens, a cow and a horse for company, is shocked when he comes across an injured Ferguson one day, and takes care of him. Overcome by his sudden need to know this man, for human contact and connection, Ivar and John begin an intense relationship focussed around a dying language and hidden secrets.

Interspersed within this narrative are sections told from the point of view of John’s wife, Mary, left alone to adjust to a new way of living, dependant on the charity and kindness of others while her husband is away.

Davies writes such clear and succinct prose that I was immediately drawn into the story and the inner lives of these men. This is a moving and tender novel and the characters will stay with you long after you have finished reading it. A wonderful book, which cements Davies as one of our best novelists.

Clear takes place in 1843 on a remote island between the Shetland Isles and Norway. John Ferguson is sent to evict the island's sole inhabitant so that the land can be used for sheep farming. John suffers an accident shortly after his arrival and is nursed back to health by Ivar, who doesn't speak a word of English. Despite this, the two men learn to communicate with each other and slowly form a friendship that leaves John questioning his mission. Meanwhile, Mary Ferguson makes her own journey to the island fearing that her husband might be at risk if Ivar refuses to leave his home.

Davies has a sophisticated style of writing reminiscent of Dickens' Great Expectations, which helps to immerse the reader in the historical setting. Her description builds an intricate picture of this remote corner of the world with words from Ivar's now extinct language scattered throughout. The slow pace is best suited to a lazy Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea.

NetGalley's LGBTQIA label is misleading. While it does become appropriate towards the very end of the book, this story does not focus on a romantic relationship between the main characters nor the general experience of being LGBTQIA. This should not be considered a criticism of the book itself, which still tells a thoughtful story, but the misrepresentation creates unmet expectations that ultimately leave the reader disappointed.

Carys Davies' brief novella is set in 1843 against the backdrop of two massive upheavals in Scottish history: the continuing, brutal clearance of its estates by voraciously greedy landlords and the formation of the Free Church of Scotland. Having impoverished himself and his wife, Mary, by resigning his living to become a minister in the breakaway church, John Ferguson reluctantly accepts a lucrative offer preparing the clearance of the last man from an island whose owner wishes to populate with sheep. The day after John lands, Ivar finds him naked and unconscious. As Ivar nurses John back to health, he begins to realise how lonely he’s been, transferring the affections for the picture of Mary he’s found in John’s belongings as they learn each other’s language. With no news of her husband, Mary makes her way to the island, not knowing what she might find.

Although I enjoyed and admired both West and The Mission House, Clear stands head and shoulders above both for me. Davies' author’s note tells us that her novella grew out of her discovery of Jakob Jakobsen’s Norn dictionary, a dialect long since fallen out of use, which seems entirely fitting for a novel marked by its striking use of language. Gorgeous images sing out from elegantly spare prose together with the occasional flash of humour. The ending isn't what I expected at all but it’s a pleasing one which suits the pragmatic and resourceful Mary well.