The Given World by Melissa Harrison review – a stunning tale of rural life for an era of ecological crisis

Eerie omens haunt this absorbing group portrait set over six months in an English village Sitting stoned on a hill above his village, a young man muses on his place in the world. But it’s overwhelming to think of all their lives being equally real and urgent. In this fine, subtle and strange novel from one of the most probing writers of contemporary rural life, Melissa Harrison earns that nod to George Eliot, whose words she gives to an anxious and ecstatic labourer clutching a can of Fanta. The Given World follows the inhabitants of one village in a river valley, a place “as old as anywhere”, for six months between the equinoxes of a year. The six months are her dying time, from diagnosis to last thoughts.

But, in a way that pays tribute to the solitary Clare’s understanding of interconnectedness, the novel goes out from the priory to trace a web of lives. Like Saj the postman, we call at addresses where literary fiction rarely bothers to ring the bell. Continue reading... Review Eerie omens haunt this absorbing group portrait set over six months in an English village S itting stoned on a hill above his village, a young man muses on his place in the world. In this fine, subtle and strange novel from one of the most probing writers of contemporary rural life, Melissa Harrison earns that nod to George Eliot, whose words she gives to an anxious and ecstatic labourer clutching a can of Fanta.

The Given World follows the inhabitants of one village in a river valley, a place “as old as anywhere”, for six months between the equinoxes of a year. The six months are her dying time, from diagnosis to last thoughts. But, in a way that pays tribute to the solitary Clare’s understanding of interconnectedness, the novel goes out from the priory to trace a web of lives. Like Saj the postman, we call at addresses where literary fiction rarely bothers to ring the bell. The Given World presents another microcosm.

Harrison has drunk deep in the culture of the rural eerie, and the novel feels for the uncanny effects of environmental change. Refusing to prioritise any one inhabitant’s story, Harrison works towards a communal form. Explore more on these topics Share Reuse this content Eerie omens haunt this absorbing group portrait set over six months in an English village Sitting stoned on a hill above his village, a young man muses on his place in the world. In this fine, subtle and strange novel from one of the most probing writers of contemporary rural life, Melissa Harrison earns that nod to George Eliot, whose words she gives to an anxious and ecstatic labourer clutching a can of Fanta. The Given World follows the inhabitants of one village in a river valley, a place “as old as anywhere”, for six months between the equinoxes of a year.

The six months are her dying time, from diagnosis to last thoughts. But, in a way that pays tribute to the solitary Clare’s understanding of interconnectedness, the novel goes out from the priory to trace a web of lives. Like Saj the postman, we call at addresses where literary fiction rarely bothers to ring the bell. Continue reading... The Given World by Melissa Harrison review – a stunning tale of rural life for an era of ecological crisis