Hello everyone
Often in fiction, there is a death, but that death doesn’t matter. Or at least it doesn’t matter enough. The death is simply a tool used by the author to to kick off the story. Those who knew or loved the deceased will not grieve, but instead, someone might seek vengeance and the detective will start looking for the guilty party.
I read a book recently, Widdershins by LA Robbins. It’s a book where the death matters. It’s a book about grief and looks at the character as he finds his way through his despair.
If you get a chance, you should read Widdershins. Let me tell you why…
Widdershins
Robin MacFarlane is attempting to juggle teaching and the upbringing of his children after the sudden death of his wife. When he leaves his two-year-old in the Tesco shopping trolley, he knows he needs help.
when Robin MacFarlane leaves his two-year-old in a shopping trolley, he knows he needs help
Help comes from Morag McCoul, the family’s new nanny, who both delights the children and terrifies their more conventional relatives.
Grief
Robin MacFarlane isn’t simply grieving, he’s utterly overwhelmed by the loss of his wife.
But Robin doesn’t have an option to take time out of his life—he has three children who share the trauma, having lost their mother. Worse, the children have effectively lost their father too—he isn’t the man he was; he’s simply a shell of a human being who continues to exist, rather than live.
Robin is fully aware of his predicament—and the continuing damage that his children are suffering—but he can’t simply get over it.
Conformity
But Robin isn’t just grieving, he’s feeling pressure to grieve in a certain way. His grief is exacerbated by the expectations of his family who have views about how grief should be handled.
These expectations don’t fit how Robin feels and they make the situation worse for the children. When Morag turns up with unconventional ideas—a Magic 8 Ball, a Ouija Board, and other new age ideas—the family are horrified. But not the children, who adopt these ideas as a way to soften their experiences.
Robin doesn’t necessarily embrace the alternative approaches, however, by thinking in a different way (by going widdershins)—and by not caring what others think—he is able to begin to see a way through, to the benefit of himself and his children.
Should you seek out Widdershins?
Of course!
Widdershins is touching, heartbreaking, very human, and amusing. Head to your local bookstore or Amazon today.
Until December
That’s me for this month. I’ll be back in December.
Until then.
All the best
Simon