Hawksmoor

Finished February 14
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd, performed by Derek Jacobl

The novel moves back and forth between the early 1700s, where Nicholas Dyer, assistant to Sir Christopher Wren is tasked with building six churches in London, many of the rebuilt following the Great Fire, and the 1980s, where the London detective Nicholas Hawksmoor is investigating a series of uncanny murders on the premises of old churches. Hawksmoor struggles to make sense of the murders, and of the lack of any clues as to the identity of the perpetrator.
He finds himself drawn back in history and in the idea of religion in his search for motive. This is a story of character and of atmosphere. We learn a lot about Dyer, about his childhood, the loss of his family, and of his struggle to survive following that. We learn of his lifelong feeling of being apart, a man who builds churches, but doesn't have faith, or at least not for what one would expect. His nature is mephitic and his churches all have a dark secret at their center.
As the book moves back and forth, I often found myself unsure which time period I was in at any given time, and this is part of the book's nature. As Hawksmoor delves into the murders, he finds the world around him less distinct, and only the elements that don't belong to his time seem real, the tramps, the urchin children playing in the streets, and the historic buildings.
I felt the historic time strongly, with more of my senses, as Ackroyd used the details of history to bring this time to life. Dyer's words are of his time, and yet they flowed for me, seeming a bit formal but not unnatural. His wording sometimes took me a moment to understand the meaning as the words were less familiar, or used in ways different than today.
I read this book to follow the David Bowie book club promoted through his son, and this was the quickest copy I could get hold of. I have now bought a physical book version, which I will read to savour the story and words, to stop and think about what is going on, and to appreciate good writing.

Always Watching

Finished March 28
Always Watching by Chevy Stevens

This novel is the third by Stevens, loosely linked to her earlier two. Here, the main character is Nadine Lavoie, the psychiatrist that worked with the characters in the first two novels. Nadine has had a difficult life, and has recently moved to Victoria for a couple of reasons. One is that her daughter Lisa is living on the streets in Victoria, and Nadine hopes to find her and mend their relationship. The other is that she needs to be part of a team rather than work in private practice and she has joined with a local hospital.
When a young suicidal woman is brought in and assigned to Nadine, old memories are awakened. The woman, Heather, has recently lost her baby, and blames herself. Heather and her husband Daniel had been part of a secluded community, The River of Life Spiritual Centre, but Heather had insisted on them leaving so that she could feel in control of her own family. Now she feels, along with pressure from others, that this is what caused her loss.
The old memories that Nadine has also have to do with the community, or an earlier iteration of it. When Nadine was thirteen, her mother took her and her older brother to the commune run by Aaron Quinn. At first things seemed to go well, but then the commune and Aaron became more controlling. Nadine has fears that she has never understood the origin of, but has a sense they came from her time at the commune.
As Nadine begins to dig deeper into what happened in her own past, she also awakens the concerns of those in the present and may have put herself and others in danger. Lisa, struggling with her own issues of abuse, finally reveals her secrets to Nadine, but is it too late to make things right between them and heal?
There is lots going on here, and issues of control, abuse, and trust are key to this story.