Book description
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 2019**
15th century Oakham, in Somerset; a tiny village cut off by a big river with no bridge. When a man is swept away by the river in the early hours of Shrove Saturday, an explanation has to be found: accident, suicide or murder?…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Western Wind as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Set in a 15th-century English village, this deeply immersive novel brings history to vivid, visceral life. Once more, the language is gorgeous from first to last. Narrated by the local priest as he investigates a recent death and possible murder, each paragraph is rich and multi-layered as a poem, full of sensory imagery I’ll never shake. A tender portrait emerges of one complicated man, his equally complex and unforgettable community, and our humanity.
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