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The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

Tag Archives: Paganism

The Merrily Watkins series by Phil Rickman

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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Christianity, Crime, Detectives, Murder, Paganism, Religion, Supernatural, Thriller

 

 

 

The last two weeks I’ve made no secret of the fact that I have an unhealthy new obsession. I’ve told everyone that will listen the intricate ins and outs of this series of crime novels and have completely neglected doing any housework at all, gripped by the convoluted plots and bizarre characters created by this man. In short, I’m doing the fan thing.

I posted earlier on the blog about The Magus of Hay and how much I enjoyed it. So I kept my promise and read more in the series, and it’s become an addiction. It’s a most unlikely premise – on the Welsh border near Hereford, single mum and parish priest Merrily Watkins reluctantly takes on the role of Deliverance minister (or exorcist) and finds herself embroiled in the machinations of the local community, both spiritually and criminally. So far she’s encountered a sexually predatory Bishop, a solicitor who won’t let his dead wife go, a group of SAS-wannabes who may have commited murder… Not to mention a varied assortment of witches and Druids who challenge her belief system, and supernatural entities that are giving her serious grief…. So gritty crime meets religion head on, and somehow it works. Brilliantly.

I totally believe in Merrily as a character, and in her circle of friends. Her daughter Jane, who’s a pagan, is feisty and fun to read about – I was gripping the arm of my chair in The Secrets of Pain as she walked into horrendous danger. Lol, Merrily’s would-be boyfriend, is likeable and I really wish they’d sort it out and get together. The relationship between the two detectives Frannie Bliss and Annie Howe adds a whole new level of tension. And is Deliverance instructor Huw friend or foe? He’s not at all ambiguous…

But I love, love, love Gomer Parry. This down-to-earth, practical grandfather-figure who stands for no nonsense and saves the day in his JCB. Frequently. Awesome isn’t the word!

It’s kind of like a grittier Midsomer Murders on speed. There’s so much going on, and I can never predict what’s going to happen next or how it will end. I’m reading them slightly out of sequence, but I can’t get enough. Rickman touches on many themes, creating a complex world which takes social and religious issues and puts them under an intense microscope. His sense of place is brilliant, both in his descriptions and in his characterisation, revealing a real tension between town and country, local or incomer. I particularly like how the religious aspect is handled. You can take the supernatural elements as real or as just part of the characters’ interpretations of events; the dying Denzil Joy may be just a nasty man who leaves unpleasant memories behind, or a sexually deviant ghost, but either way his malignant presence is horrible and unsettling. The scene in the hospital (scritch scratch) will haunt me for a long time. And both sides of the religious debate, Christian and Pagan, are shown as good and evil in equal measure. The stresses of being a female minister in a traditionally man’s world are not glossed over either.

In short, Rickman’s damn good.

There’s a website at www.philrickman.co.uk that gives you the lowdown on the real life inspiration for the series (both people and places). And a mention that the Merrily Watkins series has been optioned by ITV Drama…. Fingers crossed!

Now for the next one…

Midwinter of the Spirit, Corvus, ISBN 978-0857890108

A Crown of Lights, Corvus, ISBN 978-0857890115

The Secrets of Pain, Corvus, ISBN 978-1848872752

The Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman

21 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Anniseed in Book Review

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Christianity, Crime, Magic, Murder, Paganism, Police, Religion, Thriller

Ooh, interesting! This was a Kindle daily deal which tempted me with the alluring of combination of paganism, murder and quirky bookshops, set just over the Welsh border. It’s part of a series – Merrily Watkins – chronicling the (mis)adventures of a parish exorcist, none of which I’ve read before so I plunged right into the latest installment. It reads well enough alone so you can follow the action, although the ongoing stories of the recurring characters remained slightly shrouded in mystery. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, and I’ve just downloaded the first two books in the series so I can get to grips with the beginning.

It’s certainly a different premise for a crime series. Merrily is the exorcist, called in to help (officially and unoffically) when bizarre occurances threaten the sanctity of Hay-on-Wye, famous for its bookselling trade. In this story, the death of a mysterious old man who lived a semi-isolated life up in the hills opens up a can of worms when his identity as a chaos magician is uncovered. Earlier in his life he had written extensively on how magic was central to the Nazi ideology, and this earned him unsavoury followers whom he spent years trying to avoid. But did someone uncover his past, and is his death a form of magical intent? When a young police officer investigating the case goes missing, events take an even darker turn.

I’ve not been to Hay-on-Wye for over twenty years, but I could really picture the town, and get a good feel of its inhabitants. The newcomers Betty and Robin with their creepy bookshop, which just might be the scene of a decades-old murder, are very sympathetic. And I loved Jeeter. Now I want to know if the actual shops are really there! The atmosphere is also built up very convincingly, as this seemingly picturesque town is revealed to harbour a sinister undercurrent of violence and hatred. Oddly, I didn’t want to leave, so engrossed I become with this odd community.

What did startle me was that according to the author, the story is not as far-fetched as it might appear – “For reasons of credibility, the eccentricity of Hay has been underplayed” he states in the credits. Several of the characters mentioned are actually real people, and the history that forms an integral part of the setting is true, as is the landscape. There are lots of famous people whose names are casually dropped, from Beryl Bainbridge to Aleister Crowley. But worryingly the satanic neo-Nazi groups on the Welsh border are also rather too real. It’s certainly challenged my romantic view of Wales…. But as a “slack pagan” myself I found it intriguing; the interplay of Christianity, neo-Paganism and and fascism could have been sensational, hysterical and misinformed, but Rickman handles it sensitively. I half-expected to be offended by the way in which Christianity or Paganism were depicted, but gratifyingly I wasn’t.

I can’t wait to read other books in this series. They’re refreshing, melding esoteric, mythical beliefs with the cold hard reality of a crime investigation, and producing something quite unique.

Atlantic Books, ISBN 9780857898685 (paperback, due June 2014)

Boneland by Alan Garner

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

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Fantasy, Magic, Paganism

It’s been years since I read The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath so I wasn’t sure how I’d get on with this, as my memories of the first two books are more than hazy. But surprisingly I found that you don’t need to have read them at all in order to enjoy this sequel. Colin is now a grown-up, an astrophysicist working in an observatory in Alderley Edge; looking forever for his lost sister amongst the stars, and invoking the spirits of the land to keep the world turning. Is he crazy, or is he the only one who can see clearly? You can read this as an exploration of madness, a pagan poem, as science fiction, or all three; Garner’s prose is exquisite with not a word wasted, and this is a story with many levels and many interpretations. Colin is fascinating and sympathetic in his mania, and slowly elements of the story coalesce to prove him right. Magic and science co-exist in Garner’s world, and he expresses that world beautifully. I read this each morning as I waited for my commuter train, and the mundane world did seem just that little bit more magical, more mysterious, each day, looking through Colin’s eyes. Rating: ***

Fourth Estate, 2012, ISBN 9780007463244

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