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jen_meds_book_reviews 's review for:
Broken Ghosts
by J D Oswald
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Any one who has ever visited my blog pages before will know that I am quite a fan of JD Oswald's (aka James Oswald) mainstream crime fiction series featuring Inspector McLean. I say mainstream with a heavy application of inverted commas as Mr O has a tendency to take his stories a little outside of the everyday and introduce so more ... mystical, or otherworldy elements, something I very much approve of. Now, in Broken Ghosts, he has strayed very far from the path of crime fiction, although there are still echoes of the otherworldly in this haunting tale of loss, grief, and new beginnings, a sort of coming of age story for his tale's protagonist, Phoebe MacDonald.
From the very start of this book there is a sense of impending tragedy. It is a very simple opener, a group of pre-teens on a school outing to Edinburgh which hits more than the odd hitch and ends in overwhelming tragedy for poor Phoebe, with the loss of both of her parents in a house fire. Had circumstances been just slightly different, she feels she may have been able to save them, a fact that adds an extra layer pain to her grief, but that is nothing when compared to the fact that her whole life is about to change. Uprooted from her Coupar home and made to move to mid-Wales with her barely known Uncle Louis and his partner Maud, there is no way that Phoebe can begin to comprehend just different her summer will be. For one thing, there are no children her age in the village. For another, her new home is so remote, so traditional and unlike her own home, that it will take some considerable adjusting to. Her Aunt and Uncle have some very strange routines, at least in the eyes of a twelve year old girl, and feeling more an more isolated, she takes to exploring the woods around their cottage, and in doing so begins to expose some long buried secrets.
There is an air of melancholy that feeds through this book from the very start. To be expected given the tragic way in which Phoebe's story begins. JD Oswald has done a brilliant job in creating that sense of isolation, giving readers a vivid impression of the remote nature of Louis and maud's cottage and the very traditional village way of life that you might expect from a tiny welsh settlement. The nearest major town is Aberystwyth which, in fairness, in 1985 when the majority of the book is set, is far from the kind of cosmopolitan centre Phoebe may have experienced when visiting somewhere like Edinburgh, and that feeling of bewilderment, that inexplicable fear and anger that comes facing a future that is so far from what Phoebe had imagined really screams from the page.
There is a real sense of place that you get from the book, and although the village itself is fictional, you can tell that the author has a real feel for the area, drawing on real towns, villages and scenery to give the narrative that sense of authenticity. A number of local references made me smile, as did Phoebe's outsider perspective on the parochial feeling village community where everybody knows their neighbours. That shared history that can only come from generations of families inhabiting that same small world. There are some real characters in this story, with Uncle Louis and Aunt Maud being chief amongst the people who will come to shape Phoebe's life, but all served to inform the unsettling story which lies just beneath the surface. This is to be a summer of discovery for Phoebe, and as much as this is about her need to accept her fate and find her new path in life, there is also a mystery to be solved, even if most people don't know it yet. Llancwm has a dark history and for all the wonderful ghostly folk tales Louis spins for Phoebe, there is a strange thread of truth to them all too.
I really liked Phoebe as a character. I think the author struck the right balance in her many mood swings, from rage to tears to acceptance, portraying the move from boredom and reluctant participation in her new life, to a determination to uncover the secrets of the forest and her new, mysterious, friend, Gwyneth, really well. I liked her tenacity and her bouts of fearlessness, her kind spirit, even when some may not have deserved it. There were times when it felt she was older than her twelve years, but then that is partly to be expected given what she has experienced, and, speaking as someone who had an old soul from an early age, not so implausible. Her temper tantrums when unable to have what she wants certainly rang true, as did her retreat into books. Therein lies another secret, one that definitely brought a smile to my face. With moments of real emotion, some of tension and threat, and an undercurrent of the otherworldly, I felt myself go through a raft of emotions as I read, but all of them drawing me further into the book and Phoebe's story.
The book has a dual timeline, partly set in the present day where an adult Phoebe is called back to Llancwm to deal with matters after the passing of her Aunt Maud, and also looking back to that fateful summer of 1985 when everything in her life was to change. Despite what the title of the book ay suggest, the ghosts in this book are much more subtle, more a discovery of secrets, and laying of the past to rest than overt spooks and spectres, so if you have come looking for a scarefest, you won't find that here. It may be melancholic and mournful in tone at times, but there is also a sense of hope that builds throughout the story, and in spite of all the tragedy, some really heartwarming and tender moments as the narrative turns towards the calming and peaceful spirit of the natural world.
So, yes. This is very different to what you may have come to expect from this author, but it is a beautifully written story and one I'd heartily recommend.
From the very start of this book there is a sense of impending tragedy. It is a very simple opener, a group of pre-teens on a school outing to Edinburgh which hits more than the odd hitch and ends in overwhelming tragedy for poor Phoebe, with the loss of both of her parents in a house fire. Had circumstances been just slightly different, she feels she may have been able to save them, a fact that adds an extra layer pain to her grief, but that is nothing when compared to the fact that her whole life is about to change. Uprooted from her Coupar home and made to move to mid-Wales with her barely known Uncle Louis and his partner Maud, there is no way that Phoebe can begin to comprehend just different her summer will be. For one thing, there are no children her age in the village. For another, her new home is so remote, so traditional and unlike her own home, that it will take some considerable adjusting to. Her Aunt and Uncle have some very strange routines, at least in the eyes of a twelve year old girl, and feeling more an more isolated, she takes to exploring the woods around their cottage, and in doing so begins to expose some long buried secrets.
There is an air of melancholy that feeds through this book from the very start. To be expected given the tragic way in which Phoebe's story begins. JD Oswald has done a brilliant job in creating that sense of isolation, giving readers a vivid impression of the remote nature of Louis and maud's cottage and the very traditional village way of life that you might expect from a tiny welsh settlement. The nearest major town is Aberystwyth which, in fairness, in 1985 when the majority of the book is set, is far from the kind of cosmopolitan centre Phoebe may have experienced when visiting somewhere like Edinburgh, and that feeling of bewilderment, that inexplicable fear and anger that comes facing a future that is so far from what Phoebe had imagined really screams from the page.
There is a real sense of place that you get from the book, and although the village itself is fictional, you can tell that the author has a real feel for the area, drawing on real towns, villages and scenery to give the narrative that sense of authenticity. A number of local references made me smile, as did Phoebe's outsider perspective on the parochial feeling village community where everybody knows their neighbours. That shared history that can only come from generations of families inhabiting that same small world. There are some real characters in this story, with Uncle Louis and Aunt Maud being chief amongst the people who will come to shape Phoebe's life, but all served to inform the unsettling story which lies just beneath the surface. This is to be a summer of discovery for Phoebe, and as much as this is about her need to accept her fate and find her new path in life, there is also a mystery to be solved, even if most people don't know it yet. Llancwm has a dark history and for all the wonderful ghostly folk tales Louis spins for Phoebe, there is a strange thread of truth to them all too.
I really liked Phoebe as a character. I think the author struck the right balance in her many mood swings, from rage to tears to acceptance, portraying the move from boredom and reluctant participation in her new life, to a determination to uncover the secrets of the forest and her new, mysterious, friend, Gwyneth, really well. I liked her tenacity and her bouts of fearlessness, her kind spirit, even when some may not have deserved it. There were times when it felt she was older than her twelve years, but then that is partly to be expected given what she has experienced, and, speaking as someone who had an old soul from an early age, not so implausible. Her temper tantrums when unable to have what she wants certainly rang true, as did her retreat into books. Therein lies another secret, one that definitely brought a smile to my face. With moments of real emotion, some of tension and threat, and an undercurrent of the otherworldly, I felt myself go through a raft of emotions as I read, but all of them drawing me further into the book and Phoebe's story.
The book has a dual timeline, partly set in the present day where an adult Phoebe is called back to Llancwm to deal with matters after the passing of her Aunt Maud, and also looking back to that fateful summer of 1985 when everything in her life was to change. Despite what the title of the book ay suggest, the ghosts in this book are much more subtle, more a discovery of secrets, and laying of the past to rest than overt spooks and spectres, so if you have come looking for a scarefest, you won't find that here. It may be melancholic and mournful in tone at times, but there is also a sense of hope that builds throughout the story, and in spite of all the tragedy, some really heartwarming and tender moments as the narrative turns towards the calming and peaceful spirit of the natural world.
So, yes. This is very different to what you may have come to expect from this author, but it is a beautifully written story and one I'd heartily recommend.