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Havoc, In Its Third YearEditions
Review
The novel’s hero, John Brigge, a coroner and covert Catholic, is one of the governors of the town, but he is haunted by his own sin rather than by the sins of others. A moment of weakness saw him tumble into bed with a serving girl and he knows that this is enough to incur severe punishment. Of course, the fact that he is a practising Catholic is probably enough to have him and his family ritually incinerated: Brigge is doubly wary of the new developments in town. The story begins with a death. An Irish vagrant is accused of murdering her baby and Brigge, who lives out on the moors, is called into town to investigate. The case looks open and shut, and everyone but Brigge is sure it is. However, a key witness has gone missing; Brigge smells a conspiracy. He decides that he must find this chimerical figure at all costs. So begins his quest. We follow him as he blunders from clue to clue, trying to construct a theory that will discredit the town’s powerful puritan faction, a group that is rapidly gathering evidence against him. That is where the stumbling-blindfolded-down-a-steep-hill-in-the-dark analogy comes in. For that is exactly what the poor man is doing. Reviews of the book almost unanimously focused on the allegorical potential of the novel. It is easy to find parallels with contemporary events. You can pretty much take your pick: New Labour, the conflict in Northern Ireland, the threat of religious fundamentalism and so on and so forth. What hasn’t really been mentioned is how beautifully Bennett’s novel reflects the historical topography of seventeenth-century England. War, revolution, restoration, plague and fire – all rendered in miniature. It's very nicely done and deserves a hearty round of applause. * which may well be York since a “Skelder Gate” is mentioned - review by Paul Engles |
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John Sandoe [Books] Ltd |
There is something about reading this splendid novel that is akin to stumbling blindfolded down a steep hill in the dark. It’s set in the 1630s in an unnamed town*, which for the last three years has been governed by a committee of august gentlemen who have succeeded in wresting control of the town from a habitually oppressive feudal overlord. Unfortunately, a puritan streak at the heart of this group has rendered them just as nasty as their predecessor. The punishment for such a routine sin as fornication out of wedlock [spot the young, unmarried member of staff - Ed.] is essentially a death sentence by stealth, and a three storey “House of Correction” has been built to help administer justice.
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