Who would have thought that when I casually walked up to the book swap shelf at my local shopping centre, I would have found in Elmet by Fiona Mozley one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in recent times.
More often than not the selection at these book swaps can be thinly spread between 50 shades of Grey and countless copies of The Da Vinci Code, I’ve even seen high school text books a few times! In light of recent events in the USA, I think we should start a campaign to make book swap shelves great again! Anyway, Imagine my surprise when I found a copy of this 2017 Man Booker nominated work on the shelf.
Elmet centres around a small family of three living what should be an idyllic existence. Siblings Daniel and Cathy together with their father John, or “Daddy” as his teenage children refer to him, have built themselves a house amongst the Yorkshire country side. Daddy hunts, while the children look after the house, and they live a self sustainable life which would be the envy of many of us stuck in this modern day world.
The novel starts off with young Daniel desperately searching for someone, and despite their idyllic existence, it is made quite clear early on that things are not all well. This underlying ominous tone is ever present as the story progresses, even during the moments where Mozley describes scenes of the family’s autonomous and quiet everyday life.
For starters, the house is built on private land owned by Mr. Price; who also owns most of the properties in the town. John is the local strongman who Mr.Price uses to extort rent from the townspeople, and he has also made a name for himself in the illegal boxing circuit, often going away for days and coming back not saying much. Daniel, our narrator, suspects he is not up to anything good. This however does not change the fact that Daniel admires “daddy” and has a positive image of him, knowing that whatever comes their way he can protect them.
Things come to a head however when John decides he can no longer work under the tyranny of Mr. Price and instead incites locals to refuse to pay their rent and ask for fair wages.
Like any rich bully, Mr. Price will not stand for this. So he devises a plan. He offers the family the deed to the land their house is built on in exchange from one last boxing bout between John and an opponent of Mr. Price’s choosing, and an end to the uprising.
Remember the underlying ominous tone that is part of the narrative I mentioned earlier? Well this is where it all unravels. Not only are we dealing with the suspense of the boxing match, one of Mr. Price’s sons dies in mysterious circumstances, and there is the question of the 50,000 pounds the are stolen from one of the local townspeople. John is accused of both these crimes.
It’s probably best I stop here to avoid spoilers.
I’m just going to go out and say it. Elmet by Fiona Mozley has been one of my favourite reads of the year! With prose that is accessible, clear and engaging, I found myself engrossed in the story and its endearing characters. Whether it be Daniel with his clear vulnerability, or Cathy with her strong presence. Actually, Cathy is a definite driving force in the story. Not only the one who Daniel looks to for security but the one we feel will come through for the family as her strength jumps out at you from the page.
But it is John’s quiet yet aggressive demeanour which I found somewhat moving. While being the protector of the family he is also dealing with the absence of the children’s mother all the while living within this dog eat dog world as a standover man and fighter. Despite his physical strength and reputation as a tough guy, his brokenness really comes through.
The mother’s absence, which is explained in the story, also has a clear effect on the children, as would be expected. And even the help of longtime family friend Vivien, who tries her best to give the children some experience of what it is to have a “normal” life does little to fill this emptiness. So all in all what we have is a cast of characters who’s life experience has marked them irreparably.
I found the themes of class struggle interesting as well. Perhaps due to the fact that we are in times of high cost of living and housing crisis. We are at a point in time where it seems that those who control private property and the means of production have free reign over the rest of us. Given these circumstances we may well find ourselves supporting even an anti hero like John who does the dirty work at the bidding of his boss, while knowing that the end justifies the means. And while we don’t all have a Mr. Price in our lives, it sure can feel like it sometimes.
This is the great thing that fiction does. I doubt that when writing this work the author imagined that in 2024 some bookseller in Melbourne Australia would be reading her work and finding that it was hitting home, and yet here we are. Now Im certainly not going to become the local strong man, and highly advise you against it as well. However, in times of so much economic hardship, It is hard not to find this story of struggle against a cashed up bully somewhat relatable.
Elmet by Fiona Mozley is one I will highly recommend to anyone I can, and in fact, I will be returning it to the the book swap shelf so that someone else can enjoy it, hopefully as much as I did.
Thanks for reading.
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