The Quickening Ground - Hayden Gabriel

...aspiring author and taken from the vastly popular and successful MA course in Creative writing from the University of East Anglia.
While browsing through a second-hand bookshop I came across "The Quickening Ground" a novel by Hayden Gabriel and a graduate of the same course. Naturally I wanted to find out for myself what kind of authors and their books that the course had guided on their way to a successful first novel.
...
...that she lives in the South-West of England and following on the success of this, her first novel, she has gone on to write a new novel "A Wonderful use for Fire".
The book jacket gave some detail that suggested this was primarily a romantic novel but one of such passion that it spanned two centuries and two remarkable women. I couldn't resist it and handed over my £1.50 with a sense of exhilaration that I was meant to read this ... more

Introduction
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A short while ago I reviewed "The Creative Writing Course book" a must for any aspiring author and taken from the vastly popular and successful MA course in Creative writing from the University of East Anglia.
While browsing through a second-hand bookshop I came across "The Quickening Ground" a novel by Hayden Gabriel and a graduate of the same course. Naturally I wanted to find out for myself what kind of authors and their books that the course had guided on their way to a successful first novel.
There is little to find out about the author except that she lives in the South-West of England and following on the success of this, her first novel, she has gone on to write a new novel "A Wonderful use for Fire".
The book jacket gave some detail that suggested this was primarily a romantic novel but one of such passion that it spanned two centuries and two remarkable women. I couldn't resist it and handed over my £1.50 with a sense of exhilaration that I was meant to read this particular book. Was it merely coincidence or fate that placed my hand on this of all books? As an aspiring author myself and one that has recently been in despair of ever seeing any of her work in print I rather like to think that fate stepped in.

The Plot
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Set in the raw beauty and power of Cornwall two women come to love the farmhouse of Trethenna and the neighbouring countryside.
Claira is a talented violinist who has to hide her passionate musical nature from her staunch Methodist husband Munro.
Claire arrives a century later - a - painter who has yet to discover her true creativity.
Throughout the book both women will find love, despair but serenity of a different kind. As one chapter ends with one woman another begins with the other creating a storyline that's not unique but seems to mirror the other's experience.

The book starts with Munro awaiting his bride in chapel on a cold December day in 1886 wondering if by her lateness she has changed her mind, after all, he is some years senior to his young bride-to-be. Claira arrives later with the news that her father has just died from injuries sustained in a mining accident, still pale-faced and red-eyed from weeping she insists the wedding must go ahead.
There is to be no wedding night for the new couple instead a single bed is made up for Claira in the attic, a temporary arrangement but one that carries on for nearly a year. Munro is a prosperous farmer and a pillar of the church. Claira is barely twenty years old, an innocent but the depth of her mourning and Munro's inability to reach out and comfort this strange, beautiful and passionate woman leads to many misunderstandings before they reach any kind of relationship.

A century later on a similar raw December day Claire arrives with her husband Howard and children Nathan and Damian to look at the now-crumbling farmhouse of Trethenna.
Howard is a businessman whose work on property development brings him to find a place for his wife and children near to the development area. Claire falls in love with the house immediately, there is a rare light to be found here, a place where she longs to live and rediscover her own creativity.
When the family move in it is Claire that brings the house to life again while Howard visits on the weekends from his flat in the city.
Here Claire starts to draw again her confidence building with practise. She meets Nick, a neighbour who is also a talented artist but a loner by his own choice. They form an easy-going relationship that is made all the more special by another friendship, this time a couple called Sam and Kate with their little girl called Sky.

As the relationship with Claira and Munro increases in uncertainty and misunderstanding, so Claire's relationship with her husband starts to break down.
Munro is stirred by the loveliness of his wife but cannot reconcile himself with her love of the violin that once belonged to her father. In desperation Claira has to find refuge outside the farm to play her music and it's in a small clearing whilst playing her music that she is interrupted by the arrival of strangers, a woman and two men.
The woman is Elizabeth Armstrong a famous artist who wants to paint Claira. The two men are Forbes and Bramley who altogether make up the famous Newlyn School of Art. Their work is already famous but in the next century their paintings are much sort after.

Claire has already found a dusty old painting in a local antique shop that turns out when restored to be the work of Elizabeth Armstrong and so the portrait of Claira returns to the home she loved.
As one life eerily parallels the other Munro and Claira eventually find their love of each other rooted so deeply that it seems nothing can possibly go wrong again. The staunch Methodist comes to love the powerful music that his wife fills the house with. In turn Claira comes to find true happiness in loving her devoted husband.
Elizabeth paints Claira, a masterpiece of art that is sold to a rich London art collector. Munro and Claira's happiness is complete when Claira announces she is pregnant.

Claire is slowly being drawn to Nick as Howard becomes more remote than ever. But Claire has strong principles even when she finds her husband has been unfaithful to her she carries on as before. Only in her art can she find the solace that adds a strength and depth to her work that was lacking before. When Howard says they must return to London Claire spends hours painting in one last effort to capture the spirit of rock, shore, stone and sea, using Kate as a model she captures the very essence of life in landscape a process that shuts out the stark truth that she no longer loves her husband.

As the story draws to a conclusion it seems like now the lives of two different women both drawn to the love of the land and their art must surely now separate as Claire denies her love for Nick.
But Trethenna is not yet ready to give up on it's occupants and through many a twist and turn there are surprises left in store for any reader who wants to take the time to read this incredible book.

I have taken some liberties with the story, as it's impossible to sum it in the way the author uses her writing. Despite each chapter carrying on the separate lives of each woman there are times when the reader needs to find out the general story if the book is to appeal in such a short summary. There is much I have left out which adds a certain kind of mystery to the book but I personally found that splitting two lives in such a way rescued the book from being too much like other plots. I have deliberately left out characters and large parts of the story, in doing so it's to get you, the reader to want to discover just how such disparate people find common ground.

Characters
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Gabriel has a fine touch with each character whether it is a major or minor role I can find no fault with any, in fact she manages to avoid stereotypes so well that I found the shift from one century to another completely plausible. This is no ordinary romance and I feel that men as well as women would be equally able to identify with each character.
The common theme that unites each woman is their love of Art, through their eyes the landscape takes on a life of it's own.
In each woman I felt a bond of love that kept me enthralled in their story. I wanted to find out what would happen to them and felt a kinship that is rare in most books.
The character of Munro was initially hard to identify with because of his religious background but once again I felt drawn to find out if his own passionate nature would overcome his own moral stance.
Howard is a typical villain and doesn't make much impact on the story, but Nick is a charismatic character, one that is as important by both his presence and absence.
The added characters of a fictional bohemian art group link the stories together.

Prose
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I love to read a book when I can see the landscape through the author's eyes. Cornwall is a favourite place of the author's and also mine, a second quick look on the Internet says that she is currently living there. From the windswept rocks to the stormy seas this is nature at it's most powerful. As Munro, the farmer is toiling on the land I felt the raw earth crumble under my fingers, I smelt the new-mown hay, my mouth was parched by thirst as the labourers fought to get the harvest in before the misty rain of Cornwall descended blanketing out all sight until once more dawn tinted the landscape with that particular quality of light that belongs to Cornwall alone.

But the authors' talents are not just in the landscape; it's a powerful force of description that touches on a single look, a movement, and a stance. The passages that describe the women's talents could only come from one who had witnessed that one special moment when the earth seems to stand hushed with expectation.

Claira has been left alone in the house while she is still mourning her father. The house is so empty she fears it and takes up the violin to chase the dark corners away, this is a quote from the book.
"In the parlour next she feels music fly from her; the power and pulse of it surge over the bible and whisk round portraits and furniture. She tilts back her head and laughs, and the sound is like surf on the wave of a reel as it crashes on the rocks of the hearth, sending up rainbow spray in the light".

Claire also has a moment when she describes a true understanding of the connection with land and human life. "Drawing breath she draws. See the way skin moulds around bone. Is stone like bone, thrusting through the flesh of earth? See the way tendons pull skin tight, landscaped valleys and hills. Here veins flow through, blue; here rock creases at knuckles, the crevice between fingers. "
Rarely have I felt so uplifted by an author's writing, its poetry written as prose.

Summary
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I wasn't expecting too much from this book, as it did appear to be a concept that has been used before, rather famously by Barbara Erskine, but there is no supernatural force that links the women although there are many coincidences. As a first novel I thought it surpassed my expectations not just in the story but the wealth of description, the flowing narrative and the warm feeling it left me with. I cared about the characters and just couldn't put the book down until I found out what happens to them.
It may seem long at 424 pages but if you don't have the time to read it in one sitting then its useful to know that each chapter tells part of the character's story so you can put it down with Claira in one century and pick it back up with Claire in the next century.
Would I recommend it? With no hesitation and don't be surprised ladies if you find your man borrowing this, it's a book that would appeal to male and female alike.
If this is the standard that the UEA turn out then I would be pleased to write half as well as the author.

The boring bits.
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The book retails at £6.99 but can be found on Amazon at £5.59.
New and used books start at around 99p depending on the condition.
Thanks, as usual, for reading.
Lisa.  

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