REVIEW: Havoc, in its Third Year, by Ronnan Bennett

Title: Havoc, In Its Third Year
Author: Ronnan Bennett
Pages: 320
Rating: 4/5
Bought/Borrowed/Loaned: Bought at Waterstone's Notting Hill


SUMMARY

Set during the very tense times of 1630s in England Havoc opens with its protagonist, John Brigge, coroner and governor of a small, tight community in the cold north, is called to examine the case of a baby murdered by its mother, a helpless Irish woman. Brigge's own wife is about to give birth for the first time and the character is assaulted by fears and bad premonitions. The town is on the brink of war with itself, the Puritans taking over the goverment of the place and becoming more restless in their prosecution of Catholics. Brigge himself is of the "old faith" and so he only brings more suspicions upon himself when he appears determined to defend the Irish woman's innocence, searching for the truth of the crime whatever the cost.


REVIEW
A curious thing happened in reading this novel: as I was going through the pages I was liking the book, indeed enjoying it, but I didn't think too much of it in terms of quality, somehow I considere it "minor". But then in hindsight I realized I was more impressed with the book than I thought initially.

Bennett delivers an atmospheric book, easy to read and hard to forget - the sombre mood, the constant hissing of the wind, the feeling of riding in the middle of the night, in complete darkness. The writing, deceptively simple, is very powerful and paints a very believable picture of a world on the edge, a prelude of sorts to what's to come, the open Civil War. This aspect of the book was very relevant to me and my research because I felt like Bennett had succeeded in taking the reader to those years, that soil, the constant threat in the air, the thinly-veiled Puritan inquisitions, the centuries-old prejudices against the Irish... The mystery and thriller elements of the book were less interesting to me, because in general I'm not interested in those genres. It's not a perfect book: it has some false steps (the protagonist predictable relationship with the young maid) and some of the dialogue felt a bit forced in places (the authorities and their threats) but in the end it's a gorgeous book, with sharp, tight language that never makes the mistake of trying to copy 17th century speech but at the same time feels very much of the period. That is the illusion good historical novel writers should be after. That is Ronan Bennett's triumph.