The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey is billed as a medieval detective story, but it’s also a deeply atmospheric exploration of a small community grappling with secrets and moral dilemmas.

Set in an impoverished and isolated Somerset village in the mid-15th century, it charts the impact on the residents, and the religious leader who presides over them, when a wealthy landowner drowns. Was it an accident, was it suicide or was he murdered?

And what happened to his body after it was first spotted snagged in the crook of a tree in a river bend but is now nowhere to be seen? And why is his shirt found just beyond him in some rushes? How did it come off?

Enter John Reve, a dedicated young priest, who acts as the eyes and ears of the village and knows the intimate details of all who call Oakham home.

He narrates the tale in a confiding tone of voice, providing us with personal insights into potential suspects and their motivations, mostly gathered from the things he hears in the confessional box — “the only confession box in England–at least as far as we know” — and trusted conversations he has when out and about meeting parishioners.

But his investigation is dogged by his supervisor, the rural dean, who demands quick answers and doesn’t understand the need to tread carefully when you live amongst the suspects.

The narrative is told backwards, so when the book opens the man has been dead for several days. Unravelling the mystery in reverse gives the reader a fresh perspective on character development and plot, but it also reveals Reve’s uncanny ability to spin a multi-layered and richly detailed story in a frustratingly indirect way.

Harvey’s world-building is impressive, although I suspect it’s not always entirely historically accurate. I got a real feel for the hardship experienced by the villagers, their focus on rituals and routines, and the hypocrisy at the heart of the most devoutly religious. The dank weather and the isolation only add to the vivid picture the author paints of another time and place.

I also appreciated the focus on morality and Reve’s struggle to balance reason with superstition.

It’s also an excellent examination of the need for economic progress — the village wants to build a bridge to trade with neighbouring villages, for instance — without sacrificing the peace and solitude that protects them from outside threats.

But the narrative, for me, was uneven. I was completely suckered in by the first third, which I found entirely gripping and full of atmosphere, but the middle third dragged, probably because I was itching to “solve” the crime and was growing weary of Reve’s wanderings into subjects seemingly unrelated to the mystery.

I considered abandoning the book at this stage, but I am glad I persisted because the last third issues up a flurry of revelations and new information that changed my perspective on the story.

The Western Wind is Harvey’s fourth book. It was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction in 2019.novella,

I loved the setting of this book, and with the excellent narration of Nyasha Hatendi, I was immersed in the life of a 15th century Somerset village. I could feel the damp and chill of life at the start of Lent, and I was fascinated by the traditions surrounding people during this period.
The book works backwards from the time that a wealthy landowner, Thomas Newman, is seen floating, assumed drowned, in the river. The rural Dean arrives and advises the village priest, John Reve, to find the murderer or find proof that Newman has passed through purgatory - all before Lent begins.
There are a lot of confessions in this book. Villagers come to church to confess before the start of Lent, but none have the necessary information to tell Reve what happened. The Dean is a pretty unpleasant character: he pushes Reve to find a murderer, when it’s not really known whether Newman has been murdered at all.
John Reve appears to know and care for all of his parishioners. When two of them try to admit to Newman’s murder, Reve will not let them stand up and say that they’ve done it - and it does seem unlikely that they have. One, Sarah, a seriously ill woman, sees her confession as a way of escaping from her life of illness and pain.
This is a gentle, moving, descriptive book. There’s no fast action or tumultuous love affairs. This is the story of a priest who is doing his best for his parishioners. He takes his job seriously - it really is his calling. And there’s no earth shattering ending either. If you like a beautifully written book, then this will be the book for you.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

I found the narrative device of running backwards in time, beginning on Shrove Tuesday (day 4) and ending with Shrove Saturday (day 1) added a lot of interest and helped forge an unsettling, precarious atmosphere.

The narrator is John Reve. A weary, conflicted village priest who is being harassed by the dean to investigate the death of Newman, and preferably accuse someone of murder to placate the archdeacon. As Reve is urged to call the villagers to confession, we see how the village (functioning as a microcosm of the wider medieval world) seethes with suspicion, guilt, and shame.

Beautifully written, densely descriptive, very atmospheric and evoking medieval life, appreciate all these things but it just didn't work for me. I found the backward time-scale sort of stopped me getting into the characters and plot and I didn't really understand the ending.

Amazing characterization of Reve, really well drawn up with all the complications of a real person. The writing however dragged on and on with twist after unnecessary twist which ended up feeling very repetitive. The anachronisms also irked me just enough that I could not sink into the story.

In 15th century Oakham, the richest man in the village dies and his body is sighted a few days later. The story is narrated by John Reve the village priest and starts on Shrove Tuesday working back to the day of the death.
'The Western Wind' symbolizes for Reve a near tragedy in his early youth and the turning of a biblical plague. The western wind is a means to turn back the clock, which is taken rather literally in the narrative structure, because as the novel progresses we skip back day by day. This reverse narrative has the interesting effect that Reve goes down in estimation, because it becomes clear what he knew before, but it never gets entirely clear what his motives are. At the same time the dean's attitude is explained, because you know what he found out in the previous days, thereby gaining sympathy.
This reversal of time could make readers more interested in the why than in the who or the what, but I found myself still longing for a conclusion in the end. I thought this approach was an interesting idea, but it didn't work for me. In the first part (the last day), there are details and elements that you don't know what to do with, because you don't know what they're referring to, then you find out quite a bit later at the point where you already forgot about them and they turn out not to be interesting at all. This gave me a strong sense of 'Why am I reading about this?'
I liked the duality of the Reve character. He is both a real man and a gateway to God, he is the detective that already knows what happened and at the same time he's nervous throughout, is he self-serving or is he scheming for the good of the village?
While we try to figure out what's going on, we get some intriguing medieval issues in the background. Monastic politics: The predator monks of the nearby monastery trying to annex the village pasture land. Religious politics: What is the exact protocol for getting the 'go straight to heaven, do not pass purgatory' track? Economic politics: How to survive as a village without proper infrastructure and industrial purpose?
Although this novel definitely has some attractive features, I found it failed as a historical novel. The language just didn't fit, there's talk about Italy/Italians while Italy did not exist yet as a unit, drinking tea with sugar, fresh figs, and nobody seems worried about suicide being a mortal sin.

i was completely immersed in The Western Wind's historical setting, Samantha Harvey's beautifully crafted sentences and the extremely original comstuction of the plot, which slowly and excitingly leads the reader along to uncover its secrets, make this novel a powerful amd unique read for fans of C.J. Samson or Hilary Mantel.

With the author telling the story backwards, this is immediately a very unique historical fiction. This is a slow burning piece, and the reveal was not specifically to my liking. But I can see how others may really enjoy it.

This is an evocative portrayal of the investigation surrounding a suspicious death in a medieval English village. The author plays clever tricks with time and the story is told backwards, starting with the day the body is found and then working back through the preceding days. Very good!

Set in the 15th-century, it is a thought-provoking look at the intricate complexities of small-town, medieval life through its subtle mystery genre-tilt. In it, nothing is fast-moving, page-turning; instead, the backdrop allows for a quiet examination of the nature of secrets and confession. Told backwards, the relationships of the town become more entwined and confused, and it begs the question: who are you supposed to turn to with your own worries, when the space you are given is to only be privy to those of others?

I quite liked this story but something was missing despite the rich historical details. I enjoyed the story being told in reverse ( very Columbo-sequel!). There wasn’t much pace to the book. Thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Its 15th century Oakham. John Reve is the priest in an impoverished parish, beset by incessant rain producing muddy flooded fields and poor crop yields. His ability to guide his parishioners is severely tested and now found wanting in the face of ancient fears and superstitions as his friend Thomas Newman is reported drowned in the river on the Saturday before Lent.
Reve contacts the Dean of the diocese for help in solving the circumstances of the death, only to find the motivations of both men are very different.
Working backwards from Shrove Tuesday to the Saturday of the incident, the tale of what happened or maybe happened unfolds with some surprising occurrences.
Much of this book is set in the Confessional as John Reve listens to his parishioners recite their failings while he strives to be their just and consoling intermediary with God, their ultimate authority. He has struggled with his own temptations in the past. Even now, receiving a gift of a goose, what was a well- intentioned gift turns into a poisoned chalice.
Reve is an interesting character, compassionately treated. Forced to balance his spiritual responsibilities with any influence on secular issues such as what will happen the land belonging to the dead man.
The Western Wind is a beautiful, atmospheric read, dark and murky.
With thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage Publishing

Set in a small village in 1491, the book’s narrator is the priest John Reve. As he hears the confessions of his parishioners, the reader learns both about life in the village and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of one of its wealthiest inhabitants. The most intriguing aspect of the book is that the story unfolds in reverse. Although I found a lot to enjoy and admire about the book, such as its picture of daily life in a small village, I didn’t find the eventual reveal completely satisfying.

Philosophical thoughts, musings and ramblings of John Reve, a country parson in the late 1400s who is faced with the alleged drowning of his village’s benefactor.
This book, atmospheric and poetic in its bleakness, requires a fair amount of patience. The story spans just a handful of days in retrospect from the finding and subsequent disappearance of the corpse of Thomas Newman in the river. At times very heavy-going and centered on Reve’s navel-gazing, this is a slow-burning sleuthing plot with lengthy churning and regurgitating of church dogma.
Still, the village characters are intriguing and engaging, the prevailing gossip, faith, convention and superstition paint an interesting picture of the mundane life in a Somerset village of that time.

This is a wonderful piece of 15th century historical fiction. Set in Medieval Somerset, England, and narrated by Priest John Reve, I devoured this book in just a few hours. A strong contender for my book of the year.

The Western Wind concerns a fifteenth century village priest after the mysterious death of one of his congregation.

So disappointed! The cover is fabulous, the synopsis seemed intriguing, and I loved The Wilderness by Harvey, but I really couldn't stick with this. I loved the first 50 or so pages, but then it just got really ploddy and heavy going. I love descriptive prose but this just seemed overwritten and unnecessarily wordy. Sorry.

This is a really unusual book but I struggled with the slow moving pace of the story, a main character who was supposedly trying to solve a murder but who had a lot of the answers before the book started (and who wasn’t very likeable), a backwards timeline and a descriptive style which was too repetitive for me.
There were moments I enjoyed, such as the explanations for the smell of goose fat or the spilt milk revealed as you go backwards, but on the whole I was left feeling nothing had been explained at all. It certainly could be described as atmospheric, but I guess I prefer a more conventional style of whodunnit!

The Western Wind seems to have been everywhere recently. Longlisted and subsequently shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, it was also the Waterstones fiction book of the month for March this year. Although the 1490s time period isn’t my usual choice, the premise sounded so intriguing and creative that I thought I’d give it a try.

This novel follows four days in the life of village priest John Reve in the aftermath of the death of one of his parishioners. The really unique thing about this story, though, is that it moves backwards in time from the fourth day following Thomas Newman’s death towards the day of the death itself.

I was a bit sceptical about this method of telling the story, since I was worried the tension would all fall away as we moved backwards through each day – but Samantha Harvey definitely knew what she wanted to achieve, and executed it so well. Within each of the four days, an additional layer was peeled back to further explain certain characters’ motives and actions, until the incredibly clever final section of the book which had me utterly gripped.

Despite really enjoying the beginning and end of the book, my attention did waver during the middle two days. During this portion there was little in terms of excitement or pace, and many of Reve’s actions and musings made little sense until the final section of the book.

Another point to note is that this novel should not be read as an informative guide to life in 1490s England. I’d attempted to prepare for this by reading an article by Samantha Harvey in which she explained some of her choices regarding historical detail – but this didn’t stop some of the inaccuracies really grating on me. The worst culprit for me was a description of rain tapping on people’s coats, which brought to mind jarring images of modern anoraks and jerked me right out of the medieval setting.

Samantha Harvey’s evocative descriptions of the Somerset countryside thankfully helped bring the village of Oakham to life, even if the portrayal of the time period was sketchy. I got a real sense of the dismal, murky atmosphere in the village as its inhabitants attempted to come to terms with the loss of one of the wealthiest and most well-liked members of their parish.

Overall, I found The Western Wind to be a challenging but rewarding read. The middle section was a slog at times, and some of the inaccuracies were frustrating, but this is such a well-crafted and intelligent novel that I can definitely see why it made the Walter Scott Prize shortlist.