Phoenix Book Reviews would like to thank John for his review
John Van der Kiste lives in Devon. A library assistant, former DJ and musician, he has written over twenty books, mostly historical or musical biographies, and reviewed records and books for national and local journals and fanzines.
A glance at the cover or blurb of this book, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that this is a handbook on pond life or ecology. In fact it's a novel, set around a stream near the fictional village of Stinston. An economically depressed rural area, though rich in flora and fauna, it is high on the Department of Transport and Industry's agenda for siting an industrial park in the middle.
The advantages speak for themselves. Large multi-national companies will be attracted, with hundreds if not thousands of jobs as sure as night follows day. Terry Summers tells his partner Jo Hamilton, chair of the local environmental pressure group SAVE, that nobody can argue with that, especially as the area is on its last legs after a recession. They're between the devil and the deep blue sea, and don't want to end up looking like a bunch of tree-huggers.
It is left to Jo to point out that a sense of balance is called for. Can they really sit back and allow a beautiful valley to be ruined, a 4,000-year-old settlement and one of the last pieces of ancient woodland in the county be bulldozed?
While they are debating the issue and what to do about it, the stream flows out to the sea as it has always done, sustaining a rich cornucopia of wildlife. Salmon and trout spawn; herons, swans, kingfishers and moorhens breed and hatch; water crowfoot and purple loosestrife flower annually. The people of Stinston and Farley, the nearest large town, continue to enjoy the rural tranquillity of land around the stream that has long been an oasis of refuge to their forefathers. Meanwhile Jo appears on TV, pointing out that the ministry refuses to look at a compromise development plan involving rerouting a new road through a tunnel under the hill on grounds of cost, 'but not a penny's value has been placed in their scheme on our history and heritage and the loss forever of this beautiful landscape'.
Even while she speaks, a minister tells his junior colleague that the Treasury is strapped for cash, and he can't tell his elderly constituents that there's no money for her hip operation 'because we used the money to build a tunnel to save some old bones', and that her son can't have a job because they decided 'someone else's past was more important than his future'. In Massachusetts, the President of an electronics firm discovers that there's a crisis in Milan, but this site in the rural heart of England might be a viable alternative.
This book demands concentrated reading. Most of the chapters are very short, dealing with events - mainly relating to the wildlife, sometimes on the human factor and development - in the form of a diary month-by-month. Yet I had to make the effort to follow the narrative, often reading a page or chapter twice to take it in properly. It's quite unlike any other novel I've read previously. Significantly, it is the first work of fiction by a journalist who has written extensively for 'The Times' on environmental issues.
An endorsement on the back cover by novelist Lynne Reid Banks calls it a second 'Silent Spring'. I was tempted to rate it 4/5 at most because it's not an easy read, at least until you get past the first few chapters. But the unusual format shouldn't put you off a beautifully-conveyed tale, a timely work of controlled passion without a trace of sentimentality. If you are concerned about the environment and our legacy to future generations (and if you're not, you should be), you really ought to read this.
Publisher: Swan Hill Press
ISBN:
Price: £14.95 h/b
Date Reviewed: September 2002
John's Rating: 5/5
