The Western Wind is a novel set in a small and isolated English village at the end of the 15th century. Its narrator is the local priest, John Reve. John’s parish, Oakham, is a farming community, mostly poor, mostly hardworking, and mostly god-fearing. As the story opens, its wealthiest and worldliest member, Tom Newman, is missing, feared drowned in the treacherous local river after unprecedented storms and floods. His torn shirt has been found, nothing more, and the villagers are distressed and fearful. The local dean, representing ecclesiastical and temporal power, has arrived to investigate, making things uncomfortable for Fr. Reve.
My summary makes the novel sound like a medieval mystery story. To some extent it is, but there’s so much more to The Western Wind. It’s a beautifully written and thoughtful tale about faith, superstition, and power, and about how and where we find meaning in life. It’s a novel that never strives to be explicitly historical, but is filled with authentic detail of life in a medieval English village. It plays with time, telling the story in reverse, and this helps make medieval Oakham shockingly modern. It’s best read slowly and carefully, with every sentence savored.
Miscellaneous Musings 