Dave's Book Blog: "Ravensgill" by William Mayne

Sunday, 9 February 2025

"Ravensgill" by William Mayne

Two families, related but divided by something that happened nearly fifty years ago. Can a new generation heal the wounds? First they have to solve the half-forgotten mystery.

Bob lives on Ravensgill farm with his brother Dick and his eccentric and bad-tempered grandmother (when we first meet her she is painting the curtains which is rather different from drawing them). Judith lives in another valley (there are hints of both Romeo and Juliet and Lorna Doone). A policeman's death arouses memories but the old generation won't talk to the kids. “Is it always right to find things out, to let things be remembered?” (Ch 9) But Bob starts to investigate and arouses buried resentments. Tension rises and tempers flare to the point of murderous violence.

It is a beautifully written novel, hugely evocative of the Yorkshire (England) countryside and the farming way of life. Mayne's plot is simple, what drives the story is the reader's desire to solve the mystery, tantalised by the ambiguities built into the dialogue, and the carefully constructed characters, full of very real complexities, driven by very human emotions of pride and jealousy, and curiosity.

Just as important is the setting. There is beauty in the landscape but it can turn dangerous at a heartbeat. There's a sense that something's not quite right, of otherness, and this is fostered by sentences that are lyrical but strangely shaped. For example:

“Dick was unable to know what to do. Speech was ready in him, but there was nothing to say. Help was willing in him, but he did not know what to help.” (Ch 5)
“There was a little feminine gossip from the hens ... In the sheath of sycamore trees at the end of the yard the insects held mart and bazaar. Way down the gill the water gently clattered. Round about the still sky full clouds formed and hung.” (Ch 6)

The story is as carefully and perfectly painted as Poussin's painting above but the shepherds are looking at a tombstone on which cryptic words are carved.

Selected quotes:

“During breakfast the mist had melted. Already the walls of the house and of the farm buildings were sending back warmth. A small different mist was coming off the meadows, where the sun was drying the grass. The little mist was from the dew, rising a foot and then turning to invisible vapour.” (Ch 1)
“She was a gentle cow, but silly, and could get lost when it was impossible to get lost. she was one of the more senior members of the herd, but she had never got very high in rank, and the others pushed her about.” (Ch 2)
“The stars were not very much there to be known that night, because there was a high haze obscuring them.But they found The Plough, and Grandma discovered that the Pole Star was a long way out of position, and seemed to think it was the County Council's fault.” (Ch 3)
“He always hoped that one day he would come in happy off the hill, and be allowed to stay happy. But always it happened that Grandma had some bitterness that made his joys of place and person shrink away again.” (Ch 4)
“Dick and Tot walked down the lane together, deep in a conversation of silence.” (Ch 5)
“Now he was frightened. When he thought he was blind he had been terrified, but blindness does not mean death. It is not a symptom of the end of life. The world is still with you in blindness; and all you have to do is feel for it in other ways than with your eyes.” (Ch 5)
“He was spiting fate, giving himself up to it before it could do as it wanted, because fate takes you against your will. He thought he would swing with fate's direction, and perhaps be released out of pity.” (Ch 5)
“The bus homewards ... had to wait at pubs on the way for customers to pour the last of the ale down their throats before they wallowed across and climbed aboard.” (Ch 14)