Today, I am part of the book tour on behalf of Helen Richardson PR. Thanks to both Helen and the publisher for my copy of the book to write my honest review.
Second Book of The Isle Fincara Trilogy
Awarded a Literary Book Grant by the Books Council of Wales.
The Priest’s Wife is set on an imaginary island, somewhere between Scotland and Ireland, a thousand years ago and a world away. When her husband the priest dies, Morag loses more than her life partner. With him goes her home and her place in the community. In addition to these misfortunes, in a society that sets great store by lineage, she is challenged about the mysterious identity of her mother, and it is this that sets her on a quest of discovery that comes, at first, upon a blank, but in time leads her to the circle of the island’s ‘Guardians’, who mediate her discovery of her mother’s identity, and, step by step, her own deeper self-knowing and self-acceptance.
When Aidan, the new priest, undertakes a campaign to upturn the township’s spirituality, which has accommodated older druidical forms alongside the Christ story, both he and the community are set on a collision course. As tension builds the shareg (headman) of the town, must intervene. Finding no way through that conforms to the norms of his world, he must take a radical and unconventional step.
The book explores mental breakdown (Aidan’s) and severe depression (Morag’s, at the mid-point of the story when she finds herself at an impasse). It reflects religious tensions that have existed historically. It celebrates the natural world and the resilience of the human spirit in resisting a coercive authority. In doing so, Morag steps into her full personhood.
The second book in a Trilogy, The Priest’s Wife is a contemporary fantasy novel by an author who is brand new to me. I had no idea what to expect from this book when I began reading. I kept my mind open and just allowed the story to flow.
We are introduced to Morag, a priest’s wife, who lives in a town that respects her due to her status. One day, a stranger arrives, one who is of untidy appearance. He claims he is a prophet and tells Morag of a mother who she doesn’t know anything about. Then her husband becomes ill and makes her a priest so he can have the sacrament as he is dying. Now she is a priest but also wants to discover if the ‘prophet’ was right. What follows is her journey to her birth place to try to solve the mystery of her mother.
A skilfully written story of one woman and her journey to discover herself. A.G. Rivett writes in such a way that I felt like I was inside Morag’s head. Her struggles to find her place in life and accept the changes that she is faced with. It’s a senstive portrait in some ways and one which made me feel I knew Morag totally.
The characters are so well fleshed out, and the residents of the town made me actually feel like they really did care. The way the author weaves religion into the novel, showing the fight between christianity and their traditional paganism, makes it a layered and interesting read for me anyway.
The exploration of mental health is another sensitively handled subject. I felt that the author treated it as if he cared, and that was apparent. These subjects are important and the more they are highlighted in books, maybe they will become easier to talk about. It’s a novel that’s well-written, with sensitivity but also bravery.
Author Bio
Andrew (A.G.) Rivett was born in London. His first degree was in medicine, and he edited the medical school Gazette. He then practised in hospital medicine in London, and in a leprosy hospital in rural northern Nigeria.
In 1987 he was ordained into the stipendiary ministry of the Church of England, but after 12 years returned to medicine as a public health doctor in Southampton. During this time, he became a member of a writers’ circle and wrote a collection of short stories.
Taking early retirement in 2006, he set off for Scotland, working variously as a handyman in a retreat centre, a farm hand on an organic farm, and writing and teaching an access course on microbiology for Moray College. It was in Scotland that he met his second wife, Gillian Paschkes-Bell. He moved to her home in the spiritual eco- community at Findhorn before finding his own croft on the off-grid Scoraig peninsula, on the lands of his Mackenzie ancestors. While living in Scotland, he and Gillian experienced and learned about Celtic spirituality through the ancient tradition of the Céile Dé. Andrew has three daughters, and two grandsons.
After he had completed the first draft of The Seaborne, Gillian became Andrew’s editor, working with him collaboratively to arrive at the published form – a role she has retained with The Priest’s Wife. They now live in Ceredigion, West Wales, on land that once belonged to Gillian’s mother and which they are cultivating as a wildflower meadow.
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