THE SECOND SLEEP / AUTHOR: ROBERT HARRIS / PUBLISHER: HUTCHINSON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
In the year 1468, a young and free-willed priest named Christopher Fairfax is dispatched by mule from Exeter to the remote village of Addicott St. George to officiate at the funeral of the parish’s priest, Father Lacey. It appears that Lacey perished by falling from a great height in the nearby countryside but, not unnaturally, Fairfax is uneasy at conducting the funeral of someone he knows nothing about. Some strange compunction compels him to stay at the village longer than he might have planned as he discovers more about Father Lacey and his life, the people of the village, the stately but impoverished Sarah Durston at nearby Durston Manor and suggestions of a strange conspiracy which strikes at the very heart not only of Father Lacey’s demise but also threatens to challenge Fairfax’s faith and everything he understands about the world he lives in.
It’s no secret that everything isn’t what it seems in The Second Sleep, and its greatest narrative bolt is shot quite quickly as Fairfax explores the life of the unfortunate Father Lacey, a determined collector of artefacts from a fallen civilization and a man whose obsession clearly brought him into conflict with dangerous, powerful forces keen to stamp out his own very particular brand of heresy. One of the book’s greatest strengths – and perhaps its most daring – is that its ‘revelation’ merely powers the story but isn’t in any way the point of it. Once the reader is made aware of exactly where and when we are (and it’s a conceit familiar to those who know their way around the genre) Harris concentrates on weaving a complex and captivating web around his vividly-realised cast of characters. Poor Fairfax, an innocent abroad, is soon hopelessly out of depth and yet unable to tear himself away from this stark new environment full of strange new people, ideas and values, determined to uncover the village’s secrets whatever the cost.
The Second Sleep is a terrific read. Harris brings his world to life with extraordinary clarity and vision; you can feel the dirt under your fingernails as Fairfax battles against the elements to reach Addicott St. George and he spares no detail is exploring the filthy realities of existence in his version of the 15th century where life is inevitably nasty, brutish and short. Harris, always a master storyteller, creates characters who are real and believable, riven by hopes, fears and suspicions and their world is bleak, miserable and sometimes ruthlessly savage. Beautifully structured, written with real eloquence and grace, The Second Sleep, despite a slightly abrupt and frustrating ending, is a powerful and haunting story of worlds and people that rise and fall and the fragility of everything we know and everything we believe in. An outstanding work of fiction.
