Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This virtuosic outing from Hall (Burncoat) gives voice to the Helm--a storied northeasterly wind known for its destructive power and distinctive cloud formations that blows down the Cross Fell escarpment in Northwest England. Helm describes its "crazy coming-of-age" as it becomes aware of life on Earth, noting that "things become interesting" with the evolution of human beings. From there, the novel moves from the Neolithic to the present--with numerous stops in between. Chapters from Helm's perspective alternate with those narrated by a Victorian wind-hunter, Thomas Bodger; a prehistoric tribeswoman who names the wind Halron; a tortured Dark Ages crusader who carries a freshly hewn cross up the escarpment; and a contemporary climate scientist, Dr. Selima Sutar, whose "experiments have shown that cloud-borne plastics are leading to denser accumulation of cloud"--in other words, humans are changing Helm's very makeup with their behavior. To center a novel on a sentient wind and its relationship with humans is audacious, but Hall carries it off with conviction, fully inhabiting disparate voices across centuries. Most poignant are the chapters from the perspective of Janni, a mid-20th-century girl who undergoes electroconvulsive therapy, and whose tender, almost romantic bond with Helm is moving and well drawn. Readers will be swept away by Hall's ambitious and formally daring narrative. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A chorus of voices, ranged across centuries, expresses the history of living with Helm, a weather phenomenon that blows in a remote valley in northwest England. In Cumbria, in a valley called Eden, a fierce, tempestuous, monstrous wind blows that has impacted the world since time began. British novelist Hall, long invested in this region, gives life in her latest work to a mosaic of characters whose understanding of or connection with Helm illustrates their engagement with history, science, faith, "yarns, rituals, old beliefs…strange rustic traditions" and more. NaNay, "from the herding tribe," sees Helm as a creature pulled from a dream; medieval astrologer Michael Lang considers it a demon; Victorian meteorologist Thomas Bodger is challenged by it as a scientific mystery to be measured; and Dr. Selima Sutar, in the modern era, has arrived to work at the Centre for Atmospheric Science observatory to study air pollution, at a moment when the weather itself, including Helm, may be at a tipping point. Hall dodges among these figures while adding more--a wayward, inventive child; an herbalist; a glider pilot--and intersperses other information about Helm: illustrations, wind speeds, alternative names, comparative phenomena. The result is an immense literary panorama, expressed at times in period language, traversing a mass of preoccupations with and perceptions of the entity that is Helm. Variously playful, irreverent, and lyrical, the assembly delivers a reading experience as diverse as its historical breadth and topical depth, sometimes following a character thread, at others evoking place or moment or comprehension in fine, descriptive, occasionally transfixing language, salted with local dialect. Impressive, absorbing, challenging, the novel sometimes overwhelms with its range and immersion, but the ambition and accomplishment are undeniable, and carry the force of a major weather event. A monumental literary tribute to the interconnection, as old as time, of weather and humanity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
