R. S. Maxwell

This is a hard book to review. First, the good parts: the writing style is excellent, in a manner that apes the writing of the time and earlier. The story takes place during WWII and relates to Ruth Gladstone, a Cambridge literature student sent to northern Lancashire as an evacuee. I very much enjoyed the author's descriptions of the Lancashire setting, the small village, and its inhabitants. I also liked the references to local folklore and sites such as the Pendle witches or Boggle Hole on the coast.
The characters are varied and interesting; there are a lot of them, as the story may focus on Ruth, but she interacts with lots of people. The book reminded me of James Herriot's tales of Yorkshire with vignettes of the villagers and their issues. It makes for a slow, relaxing story.
And that leads me to the parts I disliked. I expected a mystery; the book starts with the body of a young woman floating in a pond, after all. Instead, I got secrets from the villagers that don't matter much in the end, any more than Mr. Herriot's cows surviving an outbreak of mange. The author tried to throw in some romance and bits of drama, but this book is not a thriller, suspense, or mystery. And that's fine, but it wasn't what I wanted to read.
My only other quibble (and I mention this because it kept taking me out of the story) was the disparities in the layout of the cottages. Ruth and Malcolm would walk home from the village and sometimes reach Ruth's cottage first and then other times reach Malcolm's. At one point, another house was placed in between them. Since Ruth is often looking out at Malcolm's place, it gets confusing.… (meer)