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The House By The Marsh
Jan. 28th, 2023 10:48 amI just finished reading The House By The Marsh by William Blyghton (whom I had the opportunity to meet at an event last week - which is where I picked up the book) and I really enjoyed it. It's a truly beautiful book - quiet, graceful, contemplative - and it gave me a real sense of much-needed perspective on life and the passage of time.
I loved all the different characters and the ebb and flow of the various relationships between them. I very much valued the time I got to spend with protagonist William in his house by the marsh and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next in the trilogy (I picked up copies of all three at the event).
I spoke to William at the event about how, as authors, it's so frustrating when we find errors in books, and how difficult revision and proofing can be for our books. So, it was interesting to find quite a few surface issues in the book.
There were a scattering of typos (obviously not deliberate) - particularly with missing closing punctuation on dialogue. On a more stylistic front, I wondered how intentional the changing viewpoint and lack of contractions in the dialogue were - as they stood out as jarring to me in places. One other thing I noticed was a tendency for a scene to be described directly in great detail as the events took place, and then for characters to relate it again in quite a lot of detail in conversation with others who weren't there at the time. The naming of the protagonist after the author is clearly deliberate (though I know William Blyghton is a pseudonym) as he told me a fair amount of the book is autobiographical.
Whilst a lot of these things did niggle at me as I was reading, they didn't detract overall from what was a really beautiful reading experience - one of those books that draws you into its world and holds you there (gently and with a great sense of comfort), inviting you to be a part of a wonderfully drawn community of characters.
I loved all the different characters and the ebb and flow of the various relationships between them. I very much valued the time I got to spend with protagonist William in his house by the marsh and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next in the trilogy (I picked up copies of all three at the event).
I spoke to William at the event about how, as authors, it's so frustrating when we find errors in books, and how difficult revision and proofing can be for our books. So, it was interesting to find quite a few surface issues in the book.
There were a scattering of typos (obviously not deliberate) - particularly with missing closing punctuation on dialogue. On a more stylistic front, I wondered how intentional the changing viewpoint and lack of contractions in the dialogue were - as they stood out as jarring to me in places. One other thing I noticed was a tendency for a scene to be described directly in great detail as the events took place, and then for characters to relate it again in quite a lot of detail in conversation with others who weren't there at the time. The naming of the protagonist after the author is clearly deliberate (though I know William Blyghton is a pseudonym) as he told me a fair amount of the book is autobiographical.
Whilst a lot of these things did niggle at me as I was reading, they didn't detract overall from what was a really beautiful reading experience - one of those books that draws you into its world and holds you there (gently and with a great sense of comfort), inviting you to be a part of a wonderfully drawn community of characters.
