Sunday 28 October 2018

Yorkshire Tales : "Elmet" by Fiona Mozley

Yorkshire Tales

A Review of Elmet by Fiona Mozley

Elmet was a surprise inclusion on the shortlist of the 2017 Man Booker Prize.  Or perhaps, with hindsight, its success should not have been surprising at all.  It is, in fact, a genuinely original debut novel.
The story is narrated by teenager Daniel, who lives in a rural area of Yorkshire with his slightly older sister Cathy and John, the man they call Daddy.  Daddy is a burly giant who has a reputation as a prize fighter and survives at the fringe of legality. His fighting skills are put to good (for that read “dubious”) use by debt-collectors and by organisers of illicit bare-knuckle fights.   John and the children lead a somewhat nomadic life, especially after the death of the children’s grandmother.  They move to the Yorkshire countryside, where Daddy builds a house in a copse on land belonging to local landowner Price.   This not only attracts the unwanted attention of Price (to whom Daddy seems to by mysteriously linked by past events) but also draws the enmity of powerful businessmen who see John as a threat.  Daddy resists, and finds himself thrust forward as the champion of the downtrodden and exploited workers and tenants of the area.
“Elmet” was the last Celtic kingdom of England, which later became part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.  The novel is headed by quote from Remains of Elmet by Ted Hughes, which describes the area as a “badlands – a sanctuary for refugees of the law”.  The title therefore juxtaposes the contemporary setting of the novel against a more timeless, ancient landscape.  There are other elements which invite a ‘mythical’ reading of the work.   The repeated reference to John as “Daddy” suggest that he is more of an archetype than a flesh and blood character.  The simple yet lyrical narrative voice suits the teenage narrator, but is also redolent of the poetic language of legend.   There are also clear references to tales of Yorkshire outlaws, particularly “Robin Hood and his Merry Men”. 
This contrast between the ancient and the new is interesting but it also gives rise to some inconsistencies.  John is often given a romantic aura – although a violent man, he seems to follow an ancient moral code, one which is, at heart, decent, coupling a respect for nature and with attention to the needs of fellow man.  
However, this supposed ‘code of honour’ sometimes sits uncomfortably with the evidently leftist-liberal worldview of the novel, which is presented in no unsubtle terms. John’s children, for instance, very evidently represent a contemporary view on gender - Cathy is a strong female warrior (literally) whilst John is, it is strongly suggested, gay.  On the whole, it seems that John is fine with this which, frankly, does not seem altogether credible. Indeed, in one of the initial chapters there is a passage that implies that Daddy’s feelings towards Cathy verge on the abusive and which contradicts the generally positive portrayal of this giant.  And John’s moral code, despite his defiance of the “bad guys” such as Price, is not too different from theirs, a "masculine" one in which disputes are solved through violence.     
In my view, the novel works best if one reads it for its lyrical, narrative flow, and the sustained undercurrent of tension and violence which explodes in the final pages. The ending is deliberately harrowing and graphic, and I caught myself squeamishly looking away from the book. Yet, it fits the novel and is by no means out of place.  
Like Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, also set in North England, Elmet explores contemporary concerns in a novel where the past seems to be continuously looking over our shoulders.
Paperback311 pages
Published August 10th 2017 by JM Originals

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