Ode to the West Wind‘by Percy Bysshe Shelley– focuses on death’s necessary destruction and the possibilities of rebirth. A man disappears, presumed drowned – but how and why did he die? Oakham, an impoverished village is isolated, cut off from the surrounding villages and from the monks at the abbey in Bruton by the river with its bends and oxbows, and the long woody ridge to the north-east edge of the village. There are no outsiders.

Recovering the original tune of Westron Wynde that was used in these Masses is not entirely straightforward. There is a version that uses the secular words, but with rather different notes: [3] "Western Wind" secular lyric version Imagery: the use of particularly interesting descriptions. It should trigger the reader’s senses, inspiring them to imagine the scene in great detail. For example, “when wilt thou blow / The small rain down can rain.” An unblinking examination of art and love and death as different emanations of the same truth . . . philosophical, atmospheric, and masterful.”—Nicholas Mancusi, The Daily Beast The poem should be seen as a song rather than ‘poem’ in the modern sense: it was written (or composed) principally to be chanted and listened to, rather than read in a book. Indeed, when it was written (sorry, composed) the printed book had only just been invented.Harvey is an English author, and “The Western Wind” is concerned (among other things) with man’s relationship to God. I can’t speak to Harvey’s religious or political leanings, nor do I need or want to. But I have plenty to say about her beautifully rendered, deeply affecting, thoroughly thoughtful and surprisingly prescient fourth book, which takes place during the four holy days leading up to Ash Wednesday. Set in the village of Oakham in 1491, the story is narrated by the local priest, John Reve. If other places in England at the time felt more fully emerged from the Middle Ages (commonly agreed to have ended in 1485 with the crowning of Henry Tudor), the village of Oakham is, at best, still a few years behind the promised enlightenment of the Renaissance. (We are treated to vivid time-transporting descriptions of everything from cooking and eating a whole goose to celebrating a damp wedding in a barn to fornicating while unwashed in a forest with a mule for a witness.)

At the end of the first day and therefore the end of the story as we encounter it, Reve tells Townshend, “I’d sooner climb up and sacrifice myself before I saw a single of my parish die,” then doubts his own sincerity and decides it doesn’t matter whether he means what he’s said since it won’t happen. How does that affect your judgment of him? When the dean asks Reve to choose a scapegoat—to sacrifice one for the sake of the village—what do you think Reve ought to have done? How much of what happens do you hold Reve responsible for? What is the worst thing he does? How would you judge him by his intentions and also by his actions? Does it soften our judgment of Reve that we’ve been listening throughout the book to his voice? Did you trust him, and do you feel put in an uncomfortable position at the end?In European tradition, it has usually been considered the mildest and most favorable of the directional winds. An immersive 15th-century mystery, Samantha Harvey’s The Western Wind explores the value and vagaries of faith and the nature of secrets: the ones we confess and the ones we hide even from ourselves. John Reve, spiritual advisor to the residents of the hardscrabble English village of Oakham, relates the story in reverse chronology over four days before Lent. It’s a structure that Harvey uses to good effect in deftly building quiet suspense. Reve’s superior, a rural dean, arrives in Oakham to investigate the drowning of Thomas Newman, a wealthy resident who was both admired and relied on by the community. Though Reve suggests the death was either accident or suicide, the dean is convinced that Newman was murdered, and determines to use what Reve hears in confession to uncover the guilty party. The mystery embedded in the novel reveals itself subtly but effectively. Ultimately, though, what lingers is a deep appreciation for the many contradictions of the human condition, and the awareness that, in that respect, little has changed since medieval times.” —Clara Boza, Malaprop’s Bookstore I’m genuinely baffled by the unanimity of praise for this book. For me it seems a case of the Emperor’s new clothes. An irritating and pointless reverse-narrative structure. The table of contents in mirror form looks clever, but on closer inspection the chapter heads are so vague and unrelated to action and development that it’s no great narrative achievement to have arranged them thus. Peter Phillips's reconstruction is taken from his programme notes for his recording Western Wind Masses: Taverner, Tye Sheppard, released 1993 on compact disc by Gimell Records, 454 927-2. Harvey weaves a dazzling tapestry around loss and confession in late-15th-century England in this breathtaking novel… The lush period details and acute psychological insight will thrill fans of literary mysteries and historical fiction. Utterly engrossing.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)