Review - "Clear," Carys Davies

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Burrowing into Books

Clear, Carys Davies

October 12, 2024

 

“Each time they rose he glimpsed the rocky shore, the cliffs, the absence of any kind of landing;

Each time they descended, the rocks vanished and were replaced by a liquid wall of gray.”

 

“looking back, there was only one thing that was completely clear to him,

And that was that he had loved the time he had spent with John Ferguson.”

                                                                                                                                                Carys Davies

                                                                                                                                                Clear, 2024

 

At 185 pages this is more of a novella than a novel. It is a story of solitude and human connection. It is a story of tenderness, courage and love. And it was an eye-opener for an American with only a dim knowledge of mid 19^th Century Scotland and two forces that impacted the country at that time: First, the Great Disruption when 450 Presbyterian ministers, rebelling against the patronage that allowed landowners to install their own ministers, broke away from the Church of Scotland; they were left homeless and without churches. Second, the Highland Clearances that forced the evacuation of inhabitants against their will from their homes in the Highlands and on Scotland’s northern islands, so landowners could raise sheep. 

 

John Ferguson was one who broke away from the Church of Scotland, and “became a poor man by throwing in his lot with the Free Church of Scotland.” Newly married and without income, he accepts a job to carry out a survey of a remote island and to evict the one person, Ivar, still resident. There would be no need for anyone to full-time supervise the thousand sheep to be brought there. Shearing and gathering lambs would be done once a year. The boat to take John and Ivar back would return in a month.

 

The story centers around John’s fall from a cliff shortly after arrival, and the care given him by Ivar who speaks only Norn, a form of Norse that even in the 19^th Century had largely disappeared. A strong bond develops between the two men. John’s accident gives purpose to Ivar’s lonely life. And John’s dependency on Ivar makes him question whether he can carry out his mandate. A calotype of Mary, John’s wife, plays a central role. Mary, concerned for her husband, hires a boat to bring him home early.

 

Ms. Davies’ story is atmospheric in terms of time and place. I was drawn to this remote, windswept island, adorned with cliffs that lead to pastures above, and to the two men at the center of the story. In the “Author’s Note” is a glossary of Norn words, a language that dates back to 1468 when the Danish King, Christian I, pawned the islands as dowry for his daughter who wed James III of Scotland. 

 

This is a short but beautifully written book whose images are matched by a sensitive description of a friendship, all of which will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.