The Year's Midnight: Amazon.co.uk: Alex Benzie: Books

Product Description

Product Description
In the late 18th century, in the Scottish village of Aberlevin, a man is unjustly hanged. Enraged, the townsfolk destroy the clocktower and halt time. A century later, watchmaker William Leckie is commissioned to repair the clock, and unwittingly unleaches a tidal wave of hostility and hypocrisy.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book , honest and optimistic, 24 Sep 2001

By A Customer

This is truely a great novel full of characters you can warm to and events you can believe. Although the use of strong Scottish dialect make it difficult to follow it is well worth sticking with and hey you mae well ken fits said to you next time your North of the border. The plot and narrative style are refreshingly strong and straight forward and the optimism and faith in the humanity of the characters tends to leave you with a warm glow and a feeling that all in this novel at least things tend to work to a fitting conclusion.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Criminally underrated debut from Scottish author, 13 Oct 2000

By A Customer

I cannot believe that nobody has reviewed this book before. It has the lot - believable characters, great plot, historical authenticity and interesting information about clocks (!) The author maintains superb narrative tension and the whole forms a hugely satisfying read that is far removed from the average British middle-class "ideas" novel. The book was underrated on its release and, judging by the fact that no one has reviewed Alex Benzie's latest effort, the same goes for that one too. I have just ordered it and hope for more of the same from a very promising author. Incidentally, I bought it for a friend for Christmas and she loved it too, so it's not just me!

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unusual, touching and humane - deserves to be better known!, 2 Mar 2004

By	Dr. Kenneth W. Douglas "drkennydouglas" (Glasgow) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This is a fine debut novel from a Scottish writer who has a lot more to say than many bigger, showier names I could mention. Perhaps the fact that it is historical and set in a country town (rather than the usual contemporary Urban Grimm school of Scottish fiction) has something to do with its relative neglect; but that's a poor excuse.

Benzie obviously knows his literature, and the opening historical pre-amble leading up to a hanging for sheep-stealing and the destruction of the town clock, owes something to the openings of Grassic Gibbon's "Sunset Song" and Halldor Laxness' "Independent People"; but it's still marvellous stuff in a thrillingly dark voice.

Thereafter, we get a touching and humane story featuring some very well realised characters - Watchie himself is a particularly likeable creation. The theme of clocks and the passage of time which runs through the book is skilfully handled. My only quibble (and it's a relatively minor one) is that the book, although actually fairly long on a straight page count, somehow feels too short on coming to the end - some loose ends have been left untied, and the novel's darker undercurrents could have been taken further. All the same, I'd recommend this to anyone.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book
You should never read any book twice - but this is one of the few exceptions. Believable characters (you really want to know what happened to them), a clever plot and beautifully... Read more

Published 7 months ago by David Boddy

2.0 out of 5 stars over-rated and contrived
I have to agree with the one other reviewer here who has given the book 2 stars. I'm all for beautiful descriptive prose, but Benzie's is way over the top, and often feels very... Read more

Published on 19 Sep 2006 by Dentarthurdent

2.0 out of 5 stars More description than story...
An interesting novel to be sure but wordy in the extreme as well as very difficult to understand. An heroic effort written in the vernacular of rural Scotland a century or two... Read more

Published on 24 Jul 2001

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The Year's Midnight (Paperback)

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