Blow on a Dead Man's Embers [Paperback]

I thoroughly enjoyed Mari Strachan's first novel, The Earth Hums in B Flat, set in rural Wales in the 1950s with its unforgettable 12 and a bit narrator, Gwenni. Blow on a Dead Man's Embers is set in an earlier era, it is 1921 and Non (Rhiannon) knows she should be relieved to have her husband Davey safely returned from the Great War where so many perished. Davey might be physically present but Non worries about his emotional and mental state and she is determined to "fix" him and make him whole again even if it means subterfuge on her part.

This is such a beautifully written story peopled with vibrant, interesting characters. I felt like I really got to know Non and her step-children including the quiet, reticent Osian and the wilful, teenage Meg. I felt immersed in the intensity of the interminable heatwave assailing the small Welsh village and its inhabitants and the fact I was also brought up in a tiny, remote village made the characters resonate with me even more. Life is hard, the laundry is never-ending but there is little for it but to just get by the best one can. However it's not all doom and gloom and comic interludes are provided by Maggie Ellis, the village gossip (my village still has one like her!) and Non's dour mother-in-law, Catherine Davies.

As well as the stifling ambiance of village life we have the global issues of love and loss, post-traumatic stress disorder, dementia, autism, the struggle for Irish independence, medical advances, women's rights, the growth of the Labour party. Change is coming whether the villagers like it or not.

Mari Strachan has a knack of engaging the reader almost immediately, drawing you into this other world, immersing you in another era - highly recommended particularly if you enjoy excellent storytelling in a rural setting. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Mari comes up with next

When Non Davies's husband, Davey,returns from the Great War, she is relieved to have him home in one piece, and yet Davey bears the unseen scars of war, and still lives with the horror of the trenches. Non must use all her skills, and do what must be done in order to keep her family together.

This quietly understated book is a delight to read, the story gripped me from its opening chapter, and kept me enthralled until its emotional conclusion. There is an underlying strength which comes from fine writing, great attention to detail, and the author's natural ability to tell a good story.

Blow on a Dead Man's Embers is set in a small community in Wales in the 1920s, just a few years after the end of World War I. The war has left many women grieving for a husband, a son or a brother and Non (Rhiannon) Davies is one of the lucky ones whose husband Davey has come home. But although Davey is physically unharmed he is still haunted by his experiences in the trenches. When Non finds him hiding under the kitchen table one morning she grows concerned for his mental health, but she knows that before she can help him she needs to find out exactly what happened to him during the war. Could a letter from a woman called Angela in London hold the answers?

As well as being a story about the aftermath of the Great War, this is also the story of Non and her relationships with the various members of her family. She has two teenage stepchildren to take care of, in addition to seven-year-old Osian who appears to be autistic (although this condition would not have been understood in the 1920s). Then there's Non's nephew, Gwydion, whose parents disapprove of his politics and his Irish girlfriend, and her mother-in-law, Catherine Davies, who makes no secret of her dislike for Non. Even the book's minor characters are well-drawn and believable, from the Davies' interfering neighbour, Maggie Ellis, to their tame crow, Herman.

One of the things I loved about this book was the way it looks at so many different aspects of World War I and what it was like in the years immediately afterwards. As well as Davey's shell shock (what we would now call post traumatic stress disorder) we also meet other former soldiers with various physical or mental problems caused by the war. There are also a lot of men who are struggling to find work now that the war is over and are wandering the Welsh countryside in search of food and shelter. And we also see how the women are trying to cope with the loss of their loved ones and how some of them are in denial, unable to accept what has happened.

I don't think I've ever read a novel set in Wales during this period and Mari Strachan's descriptions of life in 1920s Wales are just how I would have imagined it. The book does use some Welsh terms which, unless you're Welsh, may seem unfamiliar at first (the children call their grandparents Nain and Taid and their father Tada, for example) but I soon got used to them.

For a book where nothing very dramatic happens this was still a very absorbing story and after a slow start I found that I really cared about the Davies family and I wanted to read on and find out what would happen to them. At first I thought this was going to be a bleak, depressing book but it actually wasn't because it's told with a lot of warmth and even some humour. I can highly recommend this one.