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Cloven
In a picturesque Northamptonshire village, a cold evil has thrived unhindered for centuries In February 1830, surly Tomos Richards is ordered to take his 14-year-old mute and crippled sister Sian, along with his cattle drove, from Cardiganshire to London, hoping to find a cure there for her injuries. Her journey is beset by danger and cruelty and, when much of the drove is lost in a bog, Sian takes her chance to run away. Alone save for her pony and her loyal dog, and desperate to return to Wales, she mistakenly arrives at Tripp`s Cottage in Nether Wapford, where cholera has just taken hold and she is viewed with deep suspicion...Switching to the present day, Ivan Browning, a 32-year-old pottery teacher with a tragic past, has escaped London to live in the same Tripp`s Cottage. As the foot-and-mouth epidemic begins, he experiences ghostly pleas for help...while also becoming the target of two wealthy but, so far, untouchable local gangs. For his investigations into the cottage`s haunted history is about to uncover a gruesome mystery which others will kill to keep buried deep.
480 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2002
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10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 21, 2021
This is a dual time book with lots going on, its part historical drama, part ghost story and part modern day crime mystery and they all merge in together.
In the present day Ivan buys a rural cottage to live the dream of escaping city life and bad memories of a fatal accident in which he was involved, to launch his range of handmade pottery and teach evening classes in the same subject.
Back in 1830 young Sian, injured by trampling cattle and disabled as result sets off from Wales on horseback with her despicable brother who is a drover. He has been commanded to take her to London to seek treatment for her badly maimed leg and injuries which have left her mute,able only to communicate in whispers - whispers which travel across time and begin to haunt Ivan.
Ivan inadvertently gets on the wrong side of some local gangs, whole families who seem to rule the area involved in crime, mayhem and bloody murder. He becomes obsessed with the beautiful Jo but mystery surrounds her and Valerie the terse doctors wife with her tragic past seems to be the only person who sympathises with his increasing plight.
Meanwhile the story of Sians vile treatment at the hands of her brother and other evil characters goes from bad to worse.
I found it very complicated as there are so many different storylines going on and lots of characters, especially in the present many of whom by half way through I had no idea who they were or how they connected to the events.
Some of Ivans motives seem rather strange and there is a real undercurrent of evil nastiness that at times I found a little distasteful. Yet the book compelled me to keep reading and it was fast paced, spooky and scary if just a bit too disjointed to warrant a higher rating.
In the present day Ivan buys a rural cottage to live the dream of escaping city life and bad memories of a fatal accident in which he was involved, to launch his range of handmade pottery and teach evening classes in the same subject.
Back in 1830 young Sian, injured by trampling cattle and disabled as result sets off from Wales on horseback with her despicable brother who is a drover. He has been commanded to take her to London to seek treatment for her badly maimed leg and injuries which have left her mute,able only to communicate in whispers - whispers which travel across time and begin to haunt Ivan.
Ivan inadvertently gets on the wrong side of some local gangs, whole families who seem to rule the area involved in crime, mayhem and bloody murder. He becomes obsessed with the beautiful Jo but mystery surrounds her and Valerie the terse doctors wife with her tragic past seems to be the only person who sympathises with his increasing plight.
Meanwhile the story of Sians vile treatment at the hands of her brother and other evil characters goes from bad to worse.
I found it very complicated as there are so many different storylines going on and lots of characters, especially in the present many of whom by half way through I had no idea who they were or how they connected to the events.
Some of Ivans motives seem rather strange and there is a real undercurrent of evil nastiness that at times I found a little distasteful. Yet the book compelled me to keep reading and it was fast paced, spooky and scary if just a bit too disjointed to warrant a higher rating.
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November 9, 2025DNF. There is a lot going on and I couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t sum up the characters or picture the scene.
October 29, 2010
• Cloven by Sally Spedding. Macmillan.
355pps, 35chps plus prologue & epilogue, 2 maps, 138,000 words.
The account of the haunting of Ivan, a potter new to the area, by Sian, a disabled girl from Wales. The stories of her life and death, around 1830, and his trials with local gangsters and the wife of the local doctor, in 2002, are intertwined. The characters live and the story is a page-turner, told in an intelligent but accessible style. Description of place, people and emotion is effective and evocative. The research on historical issues brings to life the poor Welsh girl and her life of hardship and suffering. Ivan is a sympathetic character with his faults, dreams and ambitions but an essentially good man. The character of Valerie, with whom he belatedly falls in love, is excellently drawn; good to have a heroine who isn’t all blonde curls, boobs and legs but a real woman with faults, fears and a kind heart.
This is a book more to be admired than enjoyed in many ways, yet I did enjoy it and was pleased with the ending, which was apt. A good story, well told and one I’d recommend.
355pps, 35chps plus prologue & epilogue, 2 maps, 138,000 words.
The account of the haunting of Ivan, a potter new to the area, by Sian, a disabled girl from Wales. The stories of her life and death, around 1830, and his trials with local gangsters and the wife of the local doctor, in 2002, are intertwined. The characters live and the story is a page-turner, told in an intelligent but accessible style. Description of place, people and emotion is effective and evocative. The research on historical issues brings to life the poor Welsh girl and her life of hardship and suffering. Ivan is a sympathetic character with his faults, dreams and ambitions but an essentially good man. The character of Valerie, with whom he belatedly falls in love, is excellently drawn; good to have a heroine who isn’t all blonde curls, boobs and legs but a real woman with faults, fears and a kind heart.
This is a book more to be admired than enjoyed in many ways, yet I did enjoy it and was pleased with the ending, which was apt. A good story, well told and one I’d recommend.
October 17, 2013
This is an excellent book! I loved all the 1800s scenes, the story of Sian and her hard life were by far the best bits.
I wanted to read it all in one go but made it last... I'd love to read more books like this.
Bought at Barter Books in Alnwick... donated to ???
I wanted to read it all in one go but made it last... I'd love to read more books like this.
Bought at Barter Books in Alnwick... donated to ???
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews