ridgewaygirl 's review for:

Elmet by Fiona Mozley

4.0

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I'm not sure what to make of Elmet. It's an odd book, set in the rural English countryside, and told from the point of view of a boy growing up, who has an older sister and a father who is living off the grid. They've built a house in a quiet copse and are living close to nature, poaching a bit, trading for other things. Daniel's father is a large man who earned money for a time beating up men, some in illegal prize fights, others for wealthy men willing to pay. It's not long before their quiet life is threatened.

There's an overwhelming sense of peril shadowing this novel. Fiona Mozley does a brilliant job of both describing the natural world and of hinting at the danger to come. This isn't a book that obeys the usual patterns and if you need to have all your questions answered by the end of a novel, you may want to skip this one. But if you enjoy well-written novels that do things differently, you'll like Elmet.