Advertisement ::

Enlarge Cartoon

Mari Strachan’s the earth hums in B flat is a beautifully written story about growing up. Gwenni is an imaginative thirteen year-old in a tiny, claustrophobic Welsh community. She flies in her dreams and, with her, we witness a murder in the village and the madness in her own family.

I was strongly reminded of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my favourite classics, as Gwenni interpreted the events that she witnessed. The reader is aware that there is a far more ominous significance to the broken china, the blood on the floor and the tiny children’s comments about the black dog that their father had.

Gwenni’s mother seems to show a distinct preference for her older daughter, and hints dropped by Gwenni’s school friend suggest that there is a family history of scandalous events and madness. Gentle, whimsical and uncritical Gwenni copes with her mother’s violence, strange moods and failure to function as an adequate parent – but the reader is aware that a crisis is looming.

The penury and struggle for survival in the post war years is evocatively recalled in Mari Strachan‘s magical writing. This is a delightful debut novel, despite its heart-breaking theme and the conclusion that tears at the foundation of Gwenni’s family.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.