The 19th century brought fundamental change to Scotland. A religious rebellion caused one-third of the country’s clergy to break away and form the Free Church of Scotland. At the same time, landowners were systematically evicting poor rural tenants in order to use their land more profitably; this was known as The Clearances. Carys Davies imagines one man, John Ferguson, at the intersection of this social upheaval. Ferguson is one of the new ministers in the Free Church of Scotland. He is optimistic about the future, but lacks a church of his own and the commensurate income. His brother-in-law recommends him to a landowner who needs someone to remove the one “stubborn” long-term tenant remaining on his land. Ferguson sets aside all his instincts and reservations and accepts the opportunity.

The tenant, Ivar, lives on a remote (fictitious) island somewhere between the Shetlands and Norway. Ferguson arrives by boat and then sets off on foot to find Ivar. Things don’t go according to plan, and before the two even meet Ivar comes across Ferguson unconscious, badly injured in a fall. He takes Ferguson into his home and cares for him as he recovers from his injuries. Ivar speaks only a local dialect, and all of Ferguson’s notes on the language were lost in the fall. There is no way Ferguson can convey his purpose. As the two men find ways to communicate their relationship strengthens and Ferguson’s task becomes more awkward. Meanwhile, Ferguson’s wife Mary becomes worried about not having heard from him, and sets out for the island herself. This sets up an emotional conclusion which affected me more deeply than I had anticipated.

Cleared is a short novel; it could be read in a day but benefits from a slower approach. Clear your mind, clear your calendar, and allow Carys Davies’ sublime prose to wash over you. ( )

Understated and enchanting

Not sure what I think of this. There's beauty on a barren Scottish isle, loneliness, a sense of humanity and hope all in one! ( )

Late for Paula's Dewithon at Book Jotter by over a month, this is my 13th review of a novel by a Welsh author. Carys Davies' Clear is her third novel... her debut was West, (2018) which was shortlisted for the Folio Prize, longlisted for the European Literature Prize, Runner Up for the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize, and winner of the Wales Book of the Year for Fiction. Her second novel The Mission House was The Sunday Times 2020 Novel Of The Year, and I reviewed it here.

While her style and preoccupations are different, Davies is like the Irish writer Clare Keegan in the sense that she writes short novels and novellas with poetic clarity where not a word is wasted, and while both writers set their fiction in the past, these 'historical novels' are more about a reckoning with the past. In Clear, Davies brings us the human story behind the notorious clearances that denuded Scotland of its rural population in the 18th and 19th century. As she explains in the Author's Note at the back of the book:

Whole communities of the rural poor were forcibly removed from their homes by landowners in a relentless programme of coercive and systematic dispossession to make way for crops, cattle and — increasingly as time went on — sheep. (p.148)

Davies constructs her story around another cataclysmic event in Scotland: the Disruption of 1843 when 474 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. In the story, John Ferguson joins this movement, in revolt against landowners' rights to confer clerical livings to suit themselves. His decision means the loss of home and income, and so it is that his brother-in-law wangles a job for him, to tide him over his more-than-awkward financial situation.

The job is to sail to a (fictional) remote northern island between Shetland and Norway, to dispossess the sole remaining inhabitant. It seems an unchristian task for a devout minister to take on, but John Ferguson is naïve about what's involved (and not just because the landowner Henry Lowrie and his factor Strachan were evasive about it). John is also desperate, distraught about the financial plight inflicted on his beloved wife Mary. And, for a man of faith, it is also a means to an end... the sixteen pounds is not just for them, it is also a substantial amount to begin setting up the infrastructure for the new church.

The story weaves between three perspectives: that of John Ferguson; of his more clear-sighted wife Mary and of the sole inhabitant, Ivar.

To read the rest of my #NoSpoilers review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/05/12/clear-2024-by-carys-davies/ ( )

Based during the Scottish Clearances in the 1840s when the rural poor were evicted, this is the riveting story of John Ferguson, a poor Scottish minister, his wife, Mary and an unforgettable character named Ivar. John is paid to evict Ivar from his home with no knowledge of each other's languages. John's fall down a cliff renders him unconscious when he is found by Ivar, the island's sole occupant and the subject of John's eviction. As Ivar slowly nurses John back to health, they develop a bond and friendship that is transforming for both. This short novel is exquisitely written and a true testament to the human spirit. ( )