{"id":674,"date":"2018-09-23T08:02:21","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T07:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=674"},"modified":"2018-09-23T08:02:21","modified_gmt":"2018-09-23T07:02:21","slug":"review-of-the-coffin-path-by-katherine-clements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=674","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Yorkshire gothic this may be, but a ghost story, it is not. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Katherine Clements has in this book managed to achieve something quite remarkable: she has written a ghost story in which there are no ghosts. It is true that there is mention of malign spirits, hauntings, and the wicked deeds of the forgotten pagan inhabitants of the bog-strewn heathered heights, but beyond that, the reader is left with the dark imaginings of its claustrophobic cast of characters, as lust, family secrets, and deception, tear apart the lives of a household on the Yorkshire moors. There is mention of witchery and suggestions of the supernatural, but there are no actual ghosts.<\/p>\n

The strengths of this book lie elsewhere: it is brooding, evocative, and highly knowledgeable about the traditional husbanding of sheep in England\u2019s bleak northern uplands. It contains the best descriptions of the \u2018fly-blown\u2019 backside of a sheep that I have read, and I challenge you to find better. Likewise, I have read no more convincing descriptions of the mutilated carcasses of sheep and lambs than are to be encountered here, but each time one of these vaguely queasy images manifested itself, I found myself thinking not about ghosts, but the peculiar phenomenon of cattle mutilation so beloved of a certain sub-sect of UFO enthusiasts. In a similar vein, repeated references to a \u2018slaughtered lamb\u2019 conjured up images not of horror, but of the fictitious Yorkshire pub in An American Werewolf in London<\/em>. And whilst we\u2019re at it, do androids dream of slaughtered lambs? Probably not. Thankfully, I didn\u2019t either.<\/p>\n

The novel is born amidst the visceral symbolism of birth begetting death, and decline, madness, and death form the threads that weave through the warp and weft of the novel\u2019s plot, from its misty and bloody beginnings, to its snowy and even more bloody end, and you\u2019d best be warned that it takes a bloody long time to get there. Gloomy atmospherics are its strength, pace is its limping, and often absent, companion.<\/p>\n

Its overall tone struck me \u2013 if the screaming mob slinging stones and excrement whilst occasionally yelling \u2018witch\u2019 is excepted \u2013 as being more suitable to the Victorian period than to that of the Restoration, which is a pity. Moreover, its sense of place, or more specifically, its sense of \u2018Yorkshireness\u2019, was largely lacking. It was so unlike, in this respect, the highly engaging and regionally-anchored The Hidden People<\/em><\/a> by Alison Littlewood, which deploys the Yorkshire accent and dialect to such powerful effect in her Victorian gothic creation. That said, I sympathise with Katherine Clements in her decision not to employ dialect, as so many readers, particularly ones living in the US, aren\u2019t keen on English regional dialects and accents, to put it mildly, which is a shame.<\/p>\n

I do not wish to sound too harsh, as I did enjoy the tale, especially its descriptive passages, but I felt that it wasn\u2019t quite what it was billed. As with The Essex Serpent<\/em>, it would have benefitted from some judicious editing, slimming the manuscript by a quarter, to a third, leaving an altogether leaner, and meaner, novel. To view The Coffin Path<\/em> on Amazon, click on the image above, or here<\/a>. For an alternative excursion into occult mystery on the Yorkshire moors, dare you set foot here<\/a>?<\/p>\n

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