Dark Earth
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'Superb ... radically new and beautiful' Observer 'Magical and evocative' Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock 'Heartachingly poignant' Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong 'An ancient tapestry of legend brilliantly rewoven' Francis Spufford, author of Light Perpetual The new novel from the Costa-Award winning author of In The Days of Rain. AD 500. An island in the Thames. Isla has a secret: she has learned her father's sophisticated sword-making skills at a time when even entering a forge is forbidden to women. Her sister, Blue, has a secret, too: at low tide on the night of each new moon, she visits the bones of the mud woman, drowned by the elders of her tribe who wanted to make a lesson of someone who wouldn't hold her tongue. When the local Seax overlord discovers Isla's secret there is nowhere for the sisters to hide, except across the water to the walled ghost city, Londinium. Here Blue and Isla find sanctuary in an underworld community of squatters, emigrants, travellers and looters, led by the mysterious Crowther, living in an abandoned brothel and bathhouse. But trouble pursues them even into the haunted city. Dark Earth takes us back to the very founding of Britain to explore the experience of women trying to find kin in a world ruled by blood ties, feuds and men in quest of a nation. 'Unique and extraordinary ... It is difficult to imagine any reader not becoming bewitched by Dark Earth' Irish Times 'Thrilling' Alice Albinia, author of Cwen 'Pulses with the energy of a brave new world, a world as beautiful as it is dangerous, where a belief in myth and magic can save your life' Katherine J. Chen, author of Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc
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Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Did you know that after the Romans left Britain in 420, Londinium was left abandoned for over 400 years? And did you know that most of the people living in the area around the ruined city, thought it to be haunted, or bad luck, and therefore avoided the ruins? I had no idea. Rebecca Stott got the idea for Dark Earth after hearing about an archeologist who found a Saxon brooch buried deep within the Roman ruins. This outlier of history made Stott question who the woman was that dropped her brooch. What was she doing in the ruins? Why did she enter when so many did not?
It's those, and many more questions besides, that Stott plays with in Dark Earth. Speaking of — the name of the novel comes from the stripe of dark earth that sits above all Roman ruins in London. This dirt comes from the 400 years that Londinium was unoccupied, where nature was doing her best to retake the land.
I wasn't sure what to make of Dark Earth at first. Is it a fantasy novel? A retelling of history? A simple story, set on the backdrop of actual lore? I would say it's all of these combined. There are definite elements of fantasy woven through this story, the biggest one being that one of the sisters, Blue, has the ability to see the future in her dreams. The retelling of history is a little murkier — it's unclear when you read the book if some of these people actually existed or not. However, the story itself certainly seems plausible.
The two sisters are the daughters of a great smith, known for making fire-tongued swords. (I assumed this meant damascus steel, but I'm not sure if this is actually the case.) After a raid on their settlement leaves them without a mother, the sisters and their father are banished to an island in the Thames. There, their father is made to make more fire-tongued swords for the local chief/leader/king/person. All is well-enough, until their father dies. Then, everything goes wrong.
As for the characters, Blue is a dreamy sort of character, head in the clouds, sometimes not all the way there. She is the younger of the two sisters. Isla is the older of the two, and she's much more serious. I frequently found Blue to be irritating, but I loved Isla. Honestly, most of the characters are not fleshed out. They are pretty bare bones, but it works in the story. I loved the backdrop of this novel, of learning how people must have lived during this time of history. It certainly seems like a bleak sort of life, one that I am glad I do not have to live. If you enjoy reading about history at all, you will enjoy Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott!
