Ghost Wall

 

I read Summerwater by Sarah Moss and was impressed by her concise yet evocative writing style - so much said in so few words - and wanted to read more. I chose Ghost Wall, another short novel which was published in 2018. The book is set in Northumberland England. A couple and their 17-year-old daughter Silvie are taking a two week vacation where they will live as "original" Britons did before the arrival of the foreign Romans. No phones, no showers or appliances. They will sleep communally, make their own clothing and shelter and will forage for nuts, greens, grains, roots and berries and hunt for meat which they will cook over a fire. With them on their endeavour are a professor and three students who are taking his experimental archaeology course. The students see it as an easy way to earn a credit and perhaps have some fun away from the classroom. They hope to learn from Bill, Silvie's father, a bus driver who is a self-taught "expert" on daily life in the Iron Age. He is also a controlling bully who has kept his wife and daughter as isolated from modern life as possible and keeps them in line with threats and actual physical violence. Existential dread bubbles up like the water in the surrounding peat bog as the story progresses quickly, over a period of just a few sweltering days.  Silvie is paired up with Molly, a student who is confident and very capable of standing up for herself to Bill when he tries to bully her. Molly senses that the younger girl's father is hurting her but Silvie will not admit to it.The other young people talk about their lives and future plans and Silvie realizes how limited her own life is but escaping it seems impossible. Molly talks Silvie into slipping off for some treats in town where they meet a midwife Trudy who is kind to them. Misogyny, classism and racism are strong threads running through the story as it moves toward its quick and shocking conclusion. The supportive alliance formed by the three younger women offers a glimmer of hope in what is otherwise a very dark novel. 

Moss created an atmosphere that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up and left me riveted from beginning to end.