"Elmet" by Fiona Mozley (John Murray, 2018)

Daddy, Cathy and the narrator lived in a house that the father built in a few months, hidden in a copse. On p.4 we learn that the narrator's male. On p.5 we learn that he was 14 when they moved to the copse and that Cathy, his sister, was 15.

We learn that before then they'd lived for 14 years with Granny Morley in a small semi-detached house by the North Sea. No mother, apparently. The father's away sometimes. Cathy had been bullied by some middle-class boys at school. She thinks that "Even if she played, and even if she played well, it would always be their game" (p.34).

There's another time-line, in italics - "Years later and miles away that girl's brother trudges through mud to find her. It has been days. I have seen no trace but I still have hope" (p.46).

Daddy earns money by unofficial fighting and odd-jobs. He's kind to nature and seems to have a thought-through morality. On p.54 their mother's mentioned for the first time. They almost never spoke of her. She came and went. Cathy's teased by sons of the local landowner, Mr Price. They start having lessons with Vivian, who's about 40 and knew their mother, who grew up in the area. On p.57 we learn that the narrator's called Daniel. Chapter 4 ends ominously with the paragraph "But we had all believed Cathy".

A big fight is arranged by Price - if daddy wins, Price will give him the land the house was illegally built on. Daddy wins. Cathy turns out to be a murderer of Price's son in self-defense. Daddy appears to have stolen money from a strike fund. On p.293 Price gives an alternative view on daddy while taking revenge on him, thinking he killed Price's son. Cathy sets fire to the house. Daniel escapes. Maybe Cathy does too.

The morality of several of the characters is under scrutiny. Daniel and Cathy don't follow conventional gender roles. On p.244 the hints that Daniel's homosexual are realised. There's been discussion about gender roles and Daniel's feminine looks/habits. This may explain why the narrator's voice is so poetic, with university-level vocabulary -

• "The soil was alive with ruptured stories that cascaded and rotted then found form once more and pushed up through the undergrowth and back into our lives" (p.5).
• The trains "had timetables and intervals of their own, drawing growth rings around our house with each journey, ringing past us like prayer chimes" (p.6 - the double use of "ring" sound wrong, and anyway, the comparisons are fanciful).
• The headmistress "spoke in fluid phrases that rippled against and sporadically punctured the gummed ambience" (p.44)
• "Our copse provided ... an undulant terrain " (p.48).
• "There were some ornaments on the mantel and I remember particularly a small clock" (p.57). I think this is the only instance of self-conscious narration.
• "I cut circles and folded them into quarters and inserted apertures and grooves" (p.67).
• "When we passed evergreen pines the shadows became furry as the light gathered and parted their needles like water soaking into a dog's coat" (p.71).

By the end, the minor time-line's hardy begun.

Other reviews

• Mark Blacklock
• Sarah Gilmartin (The strengths of “Elmet” lie in Mozley’s expressive writing and her ability to evoke atmosphere and setting. ... Mozley’s Danny is for the most part telling his story as it happens. This proves problematic when the voice of a 14-year-old, semi-schooled teenager gives way to lyricism. ... The book’s foreshadowing is underdeveloped.)