Rather disappointed with this read.

The premise is good - a local priest trying to resolve the mystery of disappeared, presumed drowned, parishioner - who also owned most of the village land.

Given that the action of the story takes place over just a couple of days, it was not at all fast-paced, and felt like things had been going on for months. The ending also just fizzled out.

It’s our nature to deny what frightens us, and it’s not wicked or dull. Isn’t there always a bright, willing part of us that keeps hoping that what we know isn’t true?

Image result for the western wind samantha harvey

I had mixed feelings about this as I read it. The writing was so authentically bleak, I could almost feel the claustrophobic fog and rain surround me and it was hard to continually return to a book that makes you feel that way.

John Reve’s life as a priest in a backwater town is one of monotonous routine and desperation. The death of the town’s most wealthy man in mysterious circumstances forces Reve to conduct an investigation of sorts into the village’s and his own conscience.

Excellent historical fiction, well written prose, but bleak and grim to read. Maybe this is not a book to read beneath summer sunshine but rather one to savour beside a winter’s fire.

The Somerset of The Western Wind feels familiar. The village of Oakham gets cut off by heavy rain just as the Somerset levels does now. It seems ironic that no one is buying Somerset cheese when they now make the definitive Cheddar.
This novel is a mediaeval version of the film Memento. John Reve, the village priest, is a good and tolerant man. John is under pressure to solve the mystery of the death of Thomas Newman, the richest landowner in their failing village.
The story works backwards to the death of Newman, revealing the colourful lives of the villagers and what is at stake for the village. It is a clever and original novel that is well worth reading. Four stars.

A beautifully written story set in fifteenth century England, of the repercussions of the death of Newman,the richest man in the village,told through the eyes of John Reve,the village priest. When the Dean comes to investigate, John must try to find what really happened and why Newman died.
The structure is unusual as it works backwards over a few days and events are explained gradually.Reve learns what happened through the confessions of the villagers and must try to protect them from the Dean,who is convinced that the death was not accidental.
The details of life in medieval England are beautifully described,making it seem very real,and the characters are realistic.
I enjoyed the book very much and would think it would be a very good subject for a book group.Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy in return for my review.

superbly written - the ingenious idea of writing the whodunnit' (as it were) backwards means we focus on the priest, Reve, the central figure in this sophisticated medieval historical fiction - he knows the town and its people, and has more relationships and finagles things to settle with the demands of a God that is 'above' the property demands that beset this failing village. the church's involvement in economics and Reve's understanding of his parishioners - for he is the parish priest - are under tension. since the concerns of the novel are the historical issues of property ownership and the church's and local rich aristos (or at least bourgeoisie) Harvey has brilliantly solved the problem of narrative drive forward and nudging us to want to know who killed the local bigwig. there is a secret that is unravelled about Reve's letting someone down that digs away at him which we discover the farther on we read. really adept, and important in its way.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, as it promised so much: an unusual 'detective' mystery in a historic setting. However, unlike Ellis Peter's Cadfael, an earlier ecclesiastical sleuth, I find this book lacks the historical colour or detail that make her books so memorable and fascinating. In fact it was hard to place the period of the book apart from a vague indeterminate past and it might well have been set in any European country or any medieval period. I did think the narration in reverse was a clever idea at first, and the device of using the confessional to unearth the characters' motivations, but I gradually found it annoyingly repetitive and, for me, did not enlighten the 'mystery'. Perhaps because the characters are not particularly memorable, well-drawn or likeable, even the protagonist, John Reve, I could not get too involved in their lives or their problems. The central story was of so little importance to me that I found myself skimming some of the rather slow middle sections to reach the end. So for me, in spite of good intentions and an unusual concept, a disappointment overall.

Set in a small hamlet in Somerset in the 15th century, it's a really unusual beautifully written book that is worth taking your time over. Bleak and lovely and thought-provoking.

The Western Wind takes you to Oakham a Somerset village in the fifteenth century. A man has died but was it an accident, suicide or murder? What makes The Western Wind clever is that time spools backward. You start at day 3 and work back to the death. Each new day, you understand better what happened on the last day. You care about every character that you meet and want good things for all but one of them. A good tale, elegantly told and the cover is pretty good too.

When The Western Wind was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in March, I decided to read my copy of the book before the shortlist was announced so that I could see whether I agreed with its inclusion or omission. Now that I’ve read it, although I can’t really say that I particularly enjoyed it, I wasn’t surprised to see this morning that it has been shortlisted as I found it a complex, multi-layered novel with an unusual structure and some interesting ideas to explore. The sort of book judges usually like, I think!

The Western Wind is, on the surface, a murder mystery set in a small English village in 1491. Oakham in Somerset is an isolated place, cut off from the rest of the world by a river without a bridge. The wealthy Thomas Newman, who understands the importance of trade, has plans to rebuild the bridge, but before work can begin he disappears, presumed to have been swept away by the river and drowned. But was it an accident or was it murder? Lord Townshend, who has been losing some of his lands to Newman, would seem to have the most obvious motive, but he is not the only suspect…

Under pressure from his dean to discover what really happened, village priest John Reve listens to the confessions of his parishioners and is surprised by how many of them are willing to confess to having some involvement in Newman’s death. It is up to Reve to use his judgement and his knowledge of his friends and neighbours to decide who is telling the truth. The story, however, is told in reverse, beginning on day four and then moving back in time to a point just before Newman’s disappearance – and by the time we reach the end of the novel, it has become clear that Reve himself knows much more than he seemed to at first.

Despite the mystery at the heart of this novel, I didn’t feel that it was the main focus of the book. The fate of Tom Newman acts as a starting point from which we – through the eyes of John Reve – explore the daily lives of the people of Oakham, their personalities and relationships, the way their community is structured, and the superstitions and traditions that rule their lives. Social and economic change is another theme; even Newman’s name is symbolic, as he is a relevant newcomer to the village, bringing with him new ideas and new ways of looking at the world.

Although we are told that the book is set in February 1491 (at the beginning of Lent) I would otherwise have found it hard to say exactly when the story is taking place. There are very few references to anything happening in the wider world that give us any clues to the precise time period, but maybe that is the point – news from outside would be slow to reach the isolated, insular Oakham after all. I’m not sure how much importance the author places on historical accuracy in any case; she has acknowledged that the confession box which plays such a big part in the story wouldn’t have arrived in English churches until the following century, but she decided to keep John Reve’s box in her novel anyway. I have to admit, I’ve never given any thought to when confession boxes first came into use – but I am fairly sure that fifteenth century men didn’t wear trousers with waistbands as Herry Carter does in the opening chapter of the book. This is the sort of thing that will either bother you or it won’t, I suppose.

I did like Samantha Harvey’s writing but, as well as the points I’ve made above, there was something about the story that left me feeling slightly dissatisfied. I think part of that was due to the fact that, with the exception of John Reve as our narrator, I struggled to connect with any of the characters. This was probably because the way the novel is structured makes it difficult to tell whether we can trust or rely on anything they say or do, especially as we only witness their words and actions from Reve’s perspective. I’m sure that if I’d taken the time to go back and read the whole book again from the beginning, it would have been a very different experience the second time. I didn’t enjoy the book enough to want to do that, but I think it would have helped me to fully understand and appreciate it.

The Western Wind is a historical fiction novel by Samantha Harvey. It is Harvey’s fourth novel, comes in at 304 pages, and was first published by Vintage on February 28th 2019.

I was kindly #GIFTED and eARC of this novel by the publishers via NetGalley, but all opinions, as always, are my own.

This review is SPOILER FREE.

Set during the 15th century the novel takes place in the tiny village of Oakham after the death by drowning of one of the residents. We follow the town’s priest, John Reve, as he takes confession over the course of the day in the hopes of learning more about this unfortunate death.

So, what did I think of The Western Wind?

Well, as a historical fiction novel I thought it did a great job of making you feel right at home in this time period. As fas as I can remember I don’t think I have read historical fiction from this period before, though I have read fiction written in the 15th century. It was surprisingly easy to feel right at home there, and the writing, in that sense, felt very natural with a nice flow.


In regards to genre, I have seen some class it as a mystery, it is not a mystery, and if you go into the book believing this, then you will be disappointed. The narrative, told in a non-linear manner, is manipulated to keep certain facts from the reader, our protagonist, however, is aware of these facts from the beginning. Therefore, Reve has no mystery to uncover. The Western Wind is a perfectly fine historical fiction novel, but I could never call it a mystery novel, but it does not need to be the latter either.

What did I love about the book?

Over the past year, or maybe even longer I have found a love for small self-contained stories. Now, this does not mean short stories, but rather stories that take place in a limited location, and focuses on very few characters. This is a recipe for a lovely character based novel, and this book falls very much into that category. The village of Oakham is small and rural, and while there are a fair few residents, the location does such a good job of containment it at no point feels as though you’re being bombarded with loads of people.

My favourite parts were set in Reve’s confessions booth, as I though this was a fascinating way to learn about his parishioners and also about the dead man. In fact, if I were Harvey I would have set the whole thing in that booth. Notice, I was not kidding about contained locations, the smaller the better in my opinion. Of course, I’m not Harvey, And I’m sure others were glad to be able to see the village a little more.

I thought as a protagonist Reve was great, up until the final quarter of the book. This was the point where you begin to learn the circumstances surrounding the death, and then I was just a bit frustrated with him. Prior to that, having a priest as your protagonist was such a fun idea, reminiscent of Father Brown or Sydney Chambers. His character was not off putting, and in fact his religious devotion was presented in a much more human way.

But, there were some problems…

I’ve already mentioned the issue of genre. Admittedly I may have been wrong in thinking it was mystery at all, but if you see it as being marked as a mystery novel, it is a lie. There are mysterious circumstances, but they’re mysterious to the reader not to the characters.

Also, as I mentioned before I received an eARC of this book, so this could be entirely down the formatting, but I really struggled with keeping the timeline straight in my head. It was not linear, and the formatting did not help to make this clear. You may be reading the finished copy, and think that I am talking nonsense, but it was very distracting. I am greatful to relive an ARC at all, and thank Vintage, but it was something that impaired my reading experience, and felt I had to mention.

The Western Wind is available right now, in all the usual places.

What about you? Have you read or would you like to read The Western Wind? What’s your favourite historical fiction novels? Let me know in the comments!

A historical novel set in a tiny village in 16th century Somerset, narrated by the Parish priest. Not necessarily your average set up for a twisty, turny thriller, but a fascinating one nonetheless. The Western Wind is told day by day in reverse chronological order, opening several days after a sudden death has plunged the tiny community of Oakham into confusion, and working backwards one day at a time to reveal the secrets behind every closed door. In the dark of his confession booth, priest John Reve is privy to the secrets of all his parishioners, but as the novel progresses it becomes clear that somebody isn’t telling the truth. It’s beautifully written and the pace is deliciously slow, steadily building and powerful.

What an original book..

In the reign of Henry V11 the body of a wealthy landowner Thomas Newman is washed up on the banks of a river of an isolated Somerset community. Then the body mysteriously vanishes. Is it suicide or murder?


The narrator is village priest John Reve takes us back in time as we find out how this happened. Some people have expected this to be a Medieval/ Tudor whodunnit but this book has a genre- defying quality.

Not only is it about the mystery of the body, but also about isolation- the village bridge has been washed away in a flood. John Reve is in some ways isolated from the church he serves and set apart from the villagers.

"winter was the most tormented of times-too much thinking in too much time in too much darkness"

However he is also part of this community too. Themes of guilt and belief also are part of the strong currents of this book.. It reminded me of The Deposition of Father McGreevy by Brian O' Doherty

There is a strong sense of the cycles of nature and of human life and death.

The ripple effect of the body being found affects all members of the community. (I read John McGregor's contemporary Reservoir 13 at around the same time and that has similar themes)

The prose style is lyrical and accomplished without being "flashy". The whole book has an artistic integrity .

I liked the complete originality of the book, that is is genre defying and the subtle psychological study of John Reve. I feel that this is a book that needs several readings to understand all the strong undercurrents that carry the reader along.

Powerful and unforgettable.

This is an unusual but evocative story based in medieval England. The prose has the deliberate,slow style that is appropriate to the period in which it is set. The priest taking confessions is particularly hood,helping the story along as well as bringing humour. This is a a gentle book for any read who likes historical fiction.

This book also happens to be our Fiction Book of the Month at the moment at Waterstones, so I was grateful I could download it as an ebook to read it. I just loved it - the writing pulls you in from the very beginning, and keeps you hanging on every beautiful word through to the end. There was a bit of a lull for me in the middle, but it didn't last long, I was back on that hook and pulled along! One downside of reading this book on an e-reader was that the chapters go backwards in time over four days, and I'd have loved to have been able to flick back pages now and then to remind myself how past chapters began - tricky to do on an e-reader! But that didn't really spoil my enjoyment of the book. It was an original storyline - a medieval 'whodunnit' set in Somerset - told in an engaging, original manner.

The Western Wind is a thoroughly interesting historical mystery, concerning the death of a rich (comparatively) villager in 15th century Somerset. Told from the perspective of the village priest, it explores religion, confession, the multitude secrets of the parish that the priest is privy to and the external risk to the village - lack of trade, the risk of a stronger economic power in the form of the monastery and the external dean come to investigate. Told backwards, the narrative unfolds and reveals secrets slowly, unpicking truths and lies as it goes. It’s not a thriller by any means, but allows you to become immersed in the tensions of village life.

This is a reluctant three stars, because I enjoyed the book so much to start with and could see myself giving it four or five stars. Then the story started going backwards and this not only confused, but also irritated. I just wanted to reach the end and find out what happened next - but the novel ended. There was also too much navel gazing for me. A shame, as I really liked John Reve and the villagers.

I enjoyed this book with its wealth of domestic detail, superstition and religion in a medieval village. I thought the main characters were well rounded, but although it's an interesting idea to have the book go backwards in time I found it quite difficult to follow and this made it less enjoyable.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

Samantha Harvey writes a fascinatingly complex, intricate, challenging and multilayered medieval historical mystery set in the 15th century in the tiny, isolated, and impoverished village of Oakham in Somerset. It is 1491, and the prominent wealthy Thomas Newman, a man of ideas, is dead in the river, although it is not clear whether it is a case of accident, murder or suicide. John Reve is the local priest, knew Newman well and is tasked by his superior, the Dean, to find and punish who murdered Newman, whose death must be explained. The Dean is a man who has his own agenda, and Reve is an overburdened, self reflective and self doubting man, a mass of compellingly contradictory human qualities, compassion, intelligence, selfish, empathetic and yet unreliable and more. The narrative circles back in time in structure, beginning in the present and going back through the 4 days. Reve investigates through the form of the confession from his villagers at the confession box.

It is chillingly cold, both in terms of weather and the economic challenges that Oakham's people face, they hope for a bridge to offer them a way out of the fear, insecurity and frustrations they face. Nearby monks are eyeing the place for takeover with plans for a abbey, and the flourishing sugar and wool trade is bypassing the village. Reve is a man they believe in, a man of religion and influence, which might seem strange as Reve is poor and barely able to help himself as he asks them to pray for a western wind. He investigates the mystery by listening to the confessions, presented with a host of suspects that include a local landowner, and a woman who just might be seeking a way out of her suffering. Superstitions and the pagan still have a hold on the villagers along with their seasonal rituals, as the narrative delivers its twists and reveals.

Harvey excels in her characterisation, particularly that of Reve and in evoking the primal atmosphere and flavour of this historical period, her descriptions are rich in description and her vibrant prose is often so beautifully lyrical in her portrayal of everyday life. It must be noted many of the historical details are not accurate, but for me this didn't affect my enjoyment of this wonderfully enticing read that I found an immersive and thought provoking experience. Readers who love historical fiction or who have a love of the medieval period will enjoy reading this. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.

~ I was given an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review, I'm not associated with the author or publisher in any way and the views expressed are completely unbiased and entirely my own. ~

My rating: 2.5*

'The Western Wind' by Samantha Harvey is a combination of historical fiction and a whodunit. Set in a 15th century Somerset village, the story begins with the discovery and then subsequent disappearance of a dead body, that of the villages wealthiest inhabitant Thomas Newham. A mystery ensues about the nature of his death and who could be responsible. Our main protagonist and investigator is the village priest John Reve who is privy to all of the village inhabitants secrets and superstitions. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel because character driven drama such as this intrigues me, and it isn't told linearly but rather unfolds backwards, which I always enjoy in historical fiction.
However, the narrative also includes a lot of personal reflection and inner monologue from Reve himself, which given his vocation is obviously religious in nature. This isn't something I personally identify with therefore I found this less engaging and was my least favourite aspect of this novel.

~ Thanks to Vintage & Penguin Random House UK for inviting me to review this title ~

A cleverly told tale unwound backwards following a compelling and unforgettable protagonist. Balances the urgency of a masterful plot with beautiful writing.