Book Reviews

‘The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.’ Alan Bennett

“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.” ― Franz Kafka

Thursday 24 January 2013

The Bellwether Revivals - Benjamin Wood




‘I’m not sure it’s possible to be exceptional without being a bit abnormal too. Goes with the territory.'


Oscar Lowe has escaped a humdrum life to create his own contented and independent existence away from his family in Watford, something that was more important to him at that time than continuing his education. Nevertheless he is a bright and inquisitive young man, living amongst the Cambridge colleges but outside of their world.


He meets Iris Bellwether one evening as he listens to the music coming from King’s College. Iris lights up his own world and what’s more, she opens up access to such a different world from his own. Oscar works at Cedarbrook, a nursing home in Cambridge where his good friendship with one of the residents, Dr Paulsen, has enlightened his reading and also is destined to introduce him to someone from his past who will have a key role to play the lives of Oscar and his new friends.

The wealth and privilege enjoyed by beautiful Iris, her clever but troubled brother Eden and their friends contrasts with Oscar’s experiences; he is drawn to them all, but feels they have a shared experience of the past that excludes him at times; ‘They were like a family. They called each other pet names…He had never been a s close to anyone as they were with each other.’

For Iris, time spent with Oscar is an escape from everything else in her life, the demands of her parents, her brother’s behaviour. She likens being with him to listening to the choir at King’s College; ‘They just relax me so much, I feel as if I’m free…I feel the same way with you, Oscar.’

The tension builds in the story as we learn more about Iris and Eden, and we wonder to what extent Eden will take his desire and need to prove the skills he believes he possesses, involving the others in his experiments too. Eden encapsulates the idea of genius that is not without a hint of madness. Iris tells Oscar that Eden needs ‘to feel power over everyone. It’s what sustains him.’ There is a temptation though to believe in the abilities that Eden professes to have; ‘trusting in things that seem like madness.’ Could there be any truth in his claims?

It’s enthralling to read on and be part of the events that the friends are involved in, to follow the development of the story and the relationships.

One of the major themes in the novel is music, and the power of music to move and affect people. Eden’s dramatic playing of the organ is vividly described:

‘This was an energetic music, angry and contagious, something feverish and knife-sharp. It was music like gushing water, like frantic animals being herded on a hillside, like all of the conversations in the world being spoken at once, like an ocean prising itself apart, like two great armies converging on each other.’

The Bellwether Revivals is a captivating and intelligent debut novel. In some ways it reminded me of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, a book I love. I loved the Cambridge, Grantchester and Watford settings, the ideas discussed in the story, the closeness of the group of friends, and the looming sense of danger ahead. A thought-provoking and worthwhile read. 

Published by Simon & Schuster

You can find the author on twitter @bwoodauthor and on his website here.

Thank you to the publisher for the chance to read and review a copy of this novel. 

12 comments:

  1. As a new visitor here, may I compliment you on this review, which is a very informative and astute presentation of a novel which clearly does have appeal. Thanks for introducing me to it!

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    1. Christina, thank you so much for your kind comments and for taking the time to visit. It certainly means a lot to know that, having taken the time to think about a book and word a review, it reads well. This is a book I would definitely recommend.

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  2. I really loved this novel too, it's got a good dark undertone that I found very satisfying. Although as a Watford girl myself I have to stick up for the town a bit - culture can be found!

    You're right, about the echoes of The Secret History, it hadn't occurred to me before but that sense of over-closeness and menace is definitely there.

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    1. Thanks for commenting Sarah. Lovely to hear you enjoyed this one a lot too. I agree about Watford too, I lived there several years very happily. I liked the theatre there.

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  3. I loved this and it was in my top ten for 2012. Hoping it reaches lots of new fans this year.

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    1. I enjoyed your review of this one, in fact it might have been through you that I first heard about it. Yes I hope so too!

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    2. I remember being at the S&S event and thinking Treez really liked this book so I think she is partly to blame, yes ;) Glad you got round to reading it.

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    3. Yes I remember that conversation I think we had about it, certainly remember mentioning Treez and this book. Thanks.

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  4. I added this to my wishlist quite a while ago and remember being really excited about it at the time - one of those 'must.read.now' books - but like so many on the wishlist it had languished there and been forgotten about until your review sparked my memory! I am intrigued by it all over again. The Secret History is one of my all-time favourites so any comparison to that is sure to pique my interest.

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    1. Great to meet another fan of The Secret History Marie, one of my favourites too. I had the same experience with this book really, wanting to read it straight away, yet somehow taking forever to get on and read it. It was worth it!

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