Out came a thought and then another...

The first review that I read, this one, praises the book in subtle, guarded terms and is not too bothered about encouraging the general curious reader to give it a shot. In fact the author of the article mentions quite clearly that Robert Edric is a writer's writer.

Gathering the Water, longlistee Booker 2006, is quietly hiding as I look for details; review after review not offering a grip on what to expect. Perhaps that is what this book's intention is. The second review in the Guardian calls Edric's Gathering the Water a bleak, intelligent novel.

It is 1847 and Charles Weightman is an engineer dispatched to Yorkshire to oversee the 'drowning' of the desolate Forge Valley for a reservoir, and the eviction of its lingering inhabitants. But, in his 16th novel - previous books include Peacetime and an acclaimed crime trilogy - Robert Edric resists the temptation to tell a tale of displacement and suffering. His engineer's story is an exploration not of guilt or the effects of industrialisation but of creeping alienation.

I cannot help but notice the choice of the last name and the drowning of the Forge Valley assignment.

It is the wild landscape and its brutal climate that dominate the narrative and assume the human characteristics missing from the valley's inhabitants. Flooded, the moor bursts in a 'great blister of moss and peat', leaving a 'broad scar of exposed rock'; a thorn bush, 'the larder of a shrike', is adorned all over with the impaled bodies of small creatures. Soon after his arrival, Weightman develops a friendship with an ageing widow, Mary Latimer, who has returned to the village to care for her deranged sister. Both are outsiders but what draws them together is the common nature of their responsibilities, 'the twin serpents of madness and destruction', to bear witness to events beyond their control and, where necessary, to take the blame. 'We are watchers, you and I, Mr Weightman,' Mary observes bleakly. 'Nothing more.'

The above review is titled Wuthering Depths alluding to the love- in- the- marsh situation as in Wuthering Heights.

Gathering the Water is published by Random House Canada. Go over here for the very scanty details on the book. The author page shows many titles that Robert Edric has published through Random House Canada.

Ah finally! this Telegraph article, written about three years ago, is a good primer on who Robert Edric is. Apparently his real name is Gary Edric Armitage, he has written several novels (18 by now) and crime thrillers (the Song Series - Cradle Song, Siren Song, Swan Song), was longlisted for the Booker 2002 for Peacetime and sounds like an interesting man to talk to.

The Fantastic fiction page on Robert Edric lists all his works.

A profile of Edric at John Sandoe books answers in a line what is to become of our hope (our referring to readers in India) of finding Gathering the Water in an Indian bookstore (library?):

If the most sober reflection of a writer’s public success is the availability of their work then it would seem that Robert Edric operates in a cruel wilderness.

Update: Dec 06: Forward linking to my review of Gathering the Water

Posted by Echo/Lavanya on Monday, August 21, 2006 at 7:15 PM | Permalink