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Riverflow
No longer the benign friend of summer, the Severn was a restless dragon slithering its way past
After a beloved family member is drowned in a devastating flood, Bede and Elin Sherwell want nothing more than to be left in peace to pursue their off-grid life. But when the very real prospect of fracking hits their village, they are drawn into the front line of the protests. During a spring of relentless rain, a series of mysterious threats and suspicious accidents put friendships on the line, and the Sherwells’ marriage under unbearable tension. Is there a connection with their uncle’s death? As the river rises in torrential rain, pressure mounts, Bede’s sense of self begins to crumble, and Elin is no longer sure who to believe or what to believe in.
‘I was completely drawn in by her characters and their environment... The sense of unease that pervades throughout was heart-stopping.’ Emma Curtis
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 20, 2019
3 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Alison Layland
17 books54 followersI am a writer and translator, and have told myself stories for as long as I can remember.
Raised in Newark and Bradford, and having lived in various places around the UK, I now live in the bordelands between Wales and Shropshire.
Someone Else's Conflict, my debut novel, was featured as a Debut of the Month for January on the Lovereading site https://www.lovereading.co.uk/book/13.... My second novel, eco-themed psychological thriller Riverflow, was Waterstones Welsh Book of the Month in August 2019. I have also translated a number of successful novels from German and French into English.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlisonLayland...
Twitter: @AlisonLayland
Raised in Newark and Bradford, and having lived in various places around the UK, I now live in the bordelands between Wales and Shropshire.
Someone Else's Conflict, my debut novel, was featured as a Debut of the Month for January on the Lovereading site https://www.lovereading.co.uk/book/13.... My second novel, eco-themed psychological thriller Riverflow, was Waterstones Welsh Book of the Month in August 2019. I have also translated a number of successful novels from German and French into English.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlisonLayland...
Twitter: @AlisonLayland
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 30, 2020
Joe Sherwell’s been drowned, swept away by a river in flood. It was an accident. Or was it? So far as his nephew Bede and his partner Elin know, it was. But there’s a sense of unease. Then a year or two later strange things start happening that suggest that they too could be in danger. Could the answer lie in a long-ago family quarrel?
Alison Layland’s Riverflow works on two levels. The first is that it’s a well-planned thriller. If you like a good old-fashioned whodunnit, you’ll like this. Layland has the knack that the classic detective writers had of scattering just enough clues for the reader to stay just ahead of the narrative – but not too far, so that at some point you’ll realize who the villain really is and will kick yourself for not spotting it earlier.
The second level, though, is what makes this book a bit out of the ordinary. Riverflow takes place in an acutely-observed modern rural England. It’s set in a village by the River Severn in which the current culture wars are very visible. Bede and Elin are environmentalists who are appalled by the rich landowner nearby who’s trying to get fracking started on his land. There are other recognizable characters too – the sustainable energy guy, the landowner’s kind but circumspect old mother, the teenage daughter of divorcees who can’t stand her mother’s new lover. This book might be put together like a classic detective story, but the characters are bang up-to-date. Meanwhile climate change and the threat of another flood are a constant background.
If I had a reservation about this book, it was Bede. His heart is in the right place but he is not as sympathetic as he could be, having super-strong views and not caring, or maybe not realizing, that he can make others uncomfortable in his presence. In particular, his wife and the teenage daughter of a neighbour both show him real kindness and get a bad-tempered response.
But maybe Layland knew what she was doing here. Books in which the “good ’uns” are too nice can be a bit flat. And in general, I liked Riverflow and strongly recommend it. It’s not Layland’s first book (there is another thriller, Someone Else’s Conflict, published a few years ago) and the next one should also be worth the wait.
Alison Layland’s Riverflow works on two levels. The first is that it’s a well-planned thriller. If you like a good old-fashioned whodunnit, you’ll like this. Layland has the knack that the classic detective writers had of scattering just enough clues for the reader to stay just ahead of the narrative – but not too far, so that at some point you’ll realize who the villain really is and will kick yourself for not spotting it earlier.
The second level, though, is what makes this book a bit out of the ordinary. Riverflow takes place in an acutely-observed modern rural England. It’s set in a village by the River Severn in which the current culture wars are very visible. Bede and Elin are environmentalists who are appalled by the rich landowner nearby who’s trying to get fracking started on his land. There are other recognizable characters too – the sustainable energy guy, the landowner’s kind but circumspect old mother, the teenage daughter of divorcees who can’t stand her mother’s new lover. This book might be put together like a classic detective story, but the characters are bang up-to-date. Meanwhile climate change and the threat of another flood are a constant background.
If I had a reservation about this book, it was Bede. His heart is in the right place but he is not as sympathetic as he could be, having super-strong views and not caring, or maybe not realizing, that he can make others uncomfortable in his presence. In particular, his wife and the teenage daughter of a neighbour both show him real kindness and get a bad-tempered response.
But maybe Layland knew what she was doing here. Books in which the “good ’uns” are too nice can be a bit flat. And in general, I liked Riverflow and strongly recommend it. It’s not Layland’s first book (there is another thriller, Someone Else’s Conflict, published a few years ago) and the next one should also be worth the wait.
December 1, 2020
This is a lovely curate's egg of a book. It does not really fit into a genre. Or I should say it fits partially into several genres and possibly even invents a small new genre of it's own. Those of us who read a lot often get struck in the straight lines of a genre or trope. There is a lot to be said for the certainty of genre. You know where you are, where you are going and how you are going to get there. A good writer can deliver a good narrative inside any given genre. But what most of us regular readers long for is something different that bends the lanes of formulae. There are plenty of allegedly genre busting books out there but very few are well written. This one is well done and does not bust genres but does blur the lines between genres.
This book is fiction and there is a crime but it is not really "crime fiction," as the crime only becomes really evident in the last few chapters, even though there are hints and whispers through-out the book.
It is nearest to a psychological thriller. However in most thrillers the threat and danger are more evident through-out. In Riverflow we do not even see the threat. It only slowly emerges from the narrative.
Riverflow begins as sort of country soap opera, where an eco-friendly couple are trying to assimilate and inspire the rural community. Slowly, one by one, things start to go wrong. So , from the idyll, a slow downward spiral for them begins to materialize. Is it just what happens in life? is it bad luck?or is something more sinister involved. I am going to have to place this book in several of my categories including Welsh interest because it set on the Welsh Marches and the author is a member of "Crime Cymru."
Even the main protagonist of Riverflow is not your run of the mill. Bede is a self-sufficient, long haired, mechanic. He has a chip on his shoulder, is surly and an all round sanctimonious knob head ( yes! I know he sounds like me!) The inconvenient truth is constantly hammered home by Bede. The author has taken a big gamble by having this moody loner as the hero.
The author has a lovely comfortable style of writing. It is easy to read. It is like reading downhill, you just sort of freewheel.
This book is an entertaining pastoral and moral tale with a thrilling culmination.
This book is fiction and there is a crime but it is not really "crime fiction," as the crime only becomes really evident in the last few chapters, even though there are hints and whispers through-out the book.
It is nearest to a psychological thriller. However in most thrillers the threat and danger are more evident through-out. In Riverflow we do not even see the threat. It only slowly emerges from the narrative.
Riverflow begins as sort of country soap opera, where an eco-friendly couple are trying to assimilate and inspire the rural community. Slowly, one by one, things start to go wrong. So , from the idyll, a slow downward spiral for them begins to materialize. Is it just what happens in life? is it bad luck?or is something more sinister involved. I am going to have to place this book in several of my categories including Welsh interest because it set on the Welsh Marches and the author is a member of "Crime Cymru."
Even the main protagonist of Riverflow is not your run of the mill. Bede is a self-sufficient, long haired, mechanic. He has a chip on his shoulder, is surly and an all round sanctimonious knob head ( yes! I know he sounds like me!) The inconvenient truth is constantly hammered home by Bede. The author has taken a big gamble by having this moody loner as the hero.
The author has a lovely comfortable style of writing. It is easy to read. It is like reading downhill, you just sort of freewheel.
This book is an entertaining pastoral and moral tale with a thrilling culmination.
June 20, 2019
When I read and reviewed the author’s first book, I remember saying that it really shouldn’t have worked when it drew together so many diverse elements. I had the same initial thought about this one – but Alison Layland is such an accomplished story-teller, and knits everything together so very, very well.
So which “box” does it fit within most comfortably? Probably primarily a psychological thriller, with a steadily building of suspense and tension – but don’t search for the ubiquitous jaw-dropping twist, as this book is more about the slow build up, relatively gentle in pace, sometimes detouring a little, before cranking things up towards the dramatic and unexpected climax.
Those detours develop the environmental context and themes, the fracking threat, corporate and personal greed, never laboured but providing that rather different contemporary relevance and edge: they also explore and expose the relationship and family issues that are so central to the story. We first meet Bede and Elin as they grieve for a recent death, and a discovered diary gives the reader more insight into the family-based complexities that both underpin and thread through the book.
I really must mention the vividly drawn rural setting, on the banks of the Severn, and the strong watery imagery that flows throughout. And the whole cast of characters is superb drawn. I was a particular fan of long-suffering Elin, while my feelings towards Bede did wax and wane a little – but as their marriage suffers through the turmoil they’re absolutely fascinating to watch, and their actions provoke the strongest of feelings. The construction of the book is clever too, particularly in the way the diary’s revelations and the secrets of the past punctuate the narrative.
This book is something very different, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it – a compelling read, original themes, and the finest of writing.
So which “box” does it fit within most comfortably? Probably primarily a psychological thriller, with a steadily building of suspense and tension – but don’t search for the ubiquitous jaw-dropping twist, as this book is more about the slow build up, relatively gentle in pace, sometimes detouring a little, before cranking things up towards the dramatic and unexpected climax.
Those detours develop the environmental context and themes, the fracking threat, corporate and personal greed, never laboured but providing that rather different contemporary relevance and edge: they also explore and expose the relationship and family issues that are so central to the story. We first meet Bede and Elin as they grieve for a recent death, and a discovered diary gives the reader more insight into the family-based complexities that both underpin and thread through the book.
I really must mention the vividly drawn rural setting, on the banks of the Severn, and the strong watery imagery that flows throughout. And the whole cast of characters is superb drawn. I was a particular fan of long-suffering Elin, while my feelings towards Bede did wax and wane a little – but as their marriage suffers through the turmoil they’re absolutely fascinating to watch, and their actions provoke the strongest of feelings. The construction of the book is clever too, particularly in the way the diary’s revelations and the secrets of the past punctuate the narrative.
This book is something very different, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it – a compelling read, original themes, and the finest of writing.
July 13, 2019
I loved Alison Layland's debut, Someone Else's Conflict, and have been eagerly awaiting her second novel. Riverflow certainly lived up to my expectations. It's a haunting novel about family secrets and their shocking consequences, interwoven with a timely eco dram. There is much fine writing, compelling characters, and a twist at the end that nearly made me miss my tube stop. Highly recommended.
October 24, 2019
For 'a book and a beer' in August, we are reading Riverflow by Alison Layland. Riverflow is an eco-conscious thriller set in North Wales. Although it started off slowly, I really enjoyed the novel and found myself rooting for Bede and Elin in their quest to save the planet. It took a while for me to warm to Bede, but I also appreciate that both he and Elin were fully realised characters that sprouted from the page. I often felt myself getting emotionally involved when they argued, more often on Elin's behalf. The thriller side of the novel really came into its own by the second half and I had my suspicions about who it could be, but there were twists and turns a plenty. I must also credit the author for their description of the countryside. I felt that it was another character and could vividly picture in my head. Overall, I really enjoyed Riverflow, it made me want to pick up a placard and join a protest.
June 21, 2019
This is a drama for our times, pitching in with some of our worst climate fears alongside a tense psychological drama. Fracking, flooding, a drowning and emotional high stakes, Alison Layland's excellent second novel draws you in and keeps you hooked to the dramatic end.
July 24, 2019
This is a clever psychological thriller with a slowly building sense of suspense and tension…..
Bede and Elin are grieving after a recent death in the family….so they decide to move to a lovely rural setting but then there’s mention of beginning fracking in the area….so they join the local protests…
This gently tells of the threat of fracking on the environment and corporate greed to give this a relevant feel. There’s also the family issues and an old diary, which are really the central part of this story…
Beautifully descriptive of the rural setting and the watery theme with well developed characters and shows family secrets and their sometimes shocking consequences…a compelling read.
Thank you to Damppebbles Blog Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.
Bede and Elin are grieving after a recent death in the family….so they decide to move to a lovely rural setting but then there’s mention of beginning fracking in the area….so they join the local protests…
This gently tells of the threat of fracking on the environment and corporate greed to give this a relevant feel. There’s also the family issues and an old diary, which are really the central part of this story…
Beautifully descriptive of the rural setting and the watery theme with well developed characters and shows family secrets and their sometimes shocking consequences…a compelling read.
Thank you to Damppebbles Blog Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.
September 27, 2020
This was a great read. Riverflow is a wonderfully written novel about an eco-minded couple living in Shropshire who are struggling to overcome problems in their relationship at the same time as fighting a proposed fracking development nearby. It’s a powerful examination of the challenges of living a sustainable life – emotional, financial, social – as well as being a slow-burn crime novel: who is responsible for a series of attacks on local property and a hit and run?
August 13, 2019
I Ioved everything about this book, from the crucially important themes, to the quirky and mysterious characters. I would never have been able to predict what would happen in the end, having absolutely no idea where this story was going to go. This is a real page turner and one of the best books I have read this year, thoroughly recommend!
June 17, 2022
There's an atmosphere in this story, a lingering threat that flows and swells like the river, retreating on sunny days but hitting you unexpectedly. I liked the main characters and the way they embrace or question their environmental arguments. Compelling.
August 1, 2019
Quote That Stood Out Most – “Narrowed eyes regarded him steadily: you know perfectly well on both counts. And I know that you know … Layers of knowing like the infinity of mutually reflecting mirrors.”
Spoiler free review – Firstly I want to say a huge thank you to @damppebbles blog tours, Alison Layland and Honno Press for allowing me to be apart of this tour. As soon as I read the synopsis to this book I was VERY excited. I mean, all that drama mixed in with crazy weather conditions? Yes please.
When I first started this book, it did take me a while to actually ‘get into’ the book. I found the beginning a little slow for my pace of reading HOWEVER it soon picks up pace and dives right into the drama.
There’s so much going on in this story and it feels so real. Flooding is something that is happening every year, worse and worse, which makes this story even more intriguing. When I got to about a quarter of the way through, I literally couldn’t put this book down.
I loved that the chapters actually had names rather than numbers, I didn’t realise that this is something that nearly always gets over looked now but it made me even more curious. I would literally finish a chapter, read the next chapter title and HAVE to carry on.
The characters in this story were very well portrayed and extremely interesting. It was amazing to slowly see the charters unraveling ad see who they really are.
Overall, I really did enjoy this book. It lost one star for the simple fact that I did have to push my self through those first few chapters, but from then on I couldn’t stop! Highly recommend this for anyone that likes a book full of drama.
Spoiler free review – Firstly I want to say a huge thank you to @damppebbles blog tours, Alison Layland and Honno Press for allowing me to be apart of this tour. As soon as I read the synopsis to this book I was VERY excited. I mean, all that drama mixed in with crazy weather conditions? Yes please.
When I first started this book, it did take me a while to actually ‘get into’ the book. I found the beginning a little slow for my pace of reading HOWEVER it soon picks up pace and dives right into the drama.
There’s so much going on in this story and it feels so real. Flooding is something that is happening every year, worse and worse, which makes this story even more intriguing. When I got to about a quarter of the way through, I literally couldn’t put this book down.
I loved that the chapters actually had names rather than numbers, I didn’t realise that this is something that nearly always gets over looked now but it made me even more curious. I would literally finish a chapter, read the next chapter title and HAVE to carry on.
The characters in this story were very well portrayed and extremely interesting. It was amazing to slowly see the charters unraveling ad see who they really are.
Overall, I really did enjoy this book. It lost one star for the simple fact that I did have to push my self through those first few chapters, but from then on I couldn’t stop! Highly recommend this for anyone that likes a book full of drama.
July 23, 2019
Riverflow focuses on the story of Bede and Elin, particularly how Bede is coping after his uncles death. Bede isn’t ready to move on, but soon there’s the threat of fracking to deal with, and the harassment from their neighbour, all putting a strain on their relationship.
This is an interesting story with a lot of different elements coming together. Layland explores some of the issues facing the world today in a way that clearly shows her passion. You can’t help but be moved by the couple’s plight and determination to cope as best they can.
There is a slow build up of suspense and tension throughout the book. This isn’t too overt, but it lets you know that there’s something not quite right. This isn’t the level of suspense found in a typical thriller, but there’s a sense of unease throughout the book as you know something isn’t quite right.
The story introduces a cast of characters, all experiencing their own problems that Layland forces you to care about. This is a very character driven story with incredibly real people that engages the reader in a way that makes the plot feel incidental.
I’m not sure how I’d classify this book, there are subtle elements of a psychological thriller, but there’s something that moves it beyond this. Riverflow brings together a range of elements to create a beautiful story that stays with you. This is the first novel I’ve read by Alison Layland, but I’ll be sure to check out her backlist.
This is an interesting story with a lot of different elements coming together. Layland explores some of the issues facing the world today in a way that clearly shows her passion. You can’t help but be moved by the couple’s plight and determination to cope as best they can.
There is a slow build up of suspense and tension throughout the book. This isn’t too overt, but it lets you know that there’s something not quite right. This isn’t the level of suspense found in a typical thriller, but there’s a sense of unease throughout the book as you know something isn’t quite right.
The story introduces a cast of characters, all experiencing their own problems that Layland forces you to care about. This is a very character driven story with incredibly real people that engages the reader in a way that makes the plot feel incidental.
I’m not sure how I’d classify this book, there are subtle elements of a psychological thriller, but there’s something that moves it beyond this. Riverflow brings together a range of elements to create a beautiful story that stays with you. This is the first novel I’ve read by Alison Layland, but I’ll be sure to check out her backlist.
January 25, 2023
It’s not often that contemporary novels use the climate change crisis as a plot device, but Riverflow does a great job of folding our most pressing existential problem into a book that reads as a tense thriller. Bede Sherwell and his wife, Elin, are quintessential environmentalists fighting the good fight, but current conflict with a neighboring landowner who wants to bring fracking to the district intersects with Bede’s past and family secrets that are rippling into the present.
Layland has created thoroughly realistic characters here, and her dialogue rings true. These characters are not of the cookie cutter variety either. They’re complex and often frustrating—because they are completely human. Real life has its saints and sinners, often in a single individual, and Bede, especially, presents this way. He’s driven in his causes but he’s also thin-skinned and brittle. This is actually quite effective for the thriller side of the tale because we are always asking what he’s capable of when pushed too far.
As an American reader, I was especially intrigued by the descriptions of the region near the Welsh border in England, along with the colloquial speech of the characters. I can easily imagine a film with rich views of the countryside and intimate scenes of private life there.
The surprising conclusion was the perfect ending to this story of conflicting values, respect for the planet and all its living things, and the struggle of our times, which will no doubt continue. Even as we work to prepare a better future, the past is always close by.
Layland has created thoroughly realistic characters here, and her dialogue rings true. These characters are not of the cookie cutter variety either. They’re complex and often frustrating—because they are completely human. Real life has its saints and sinners, often in a single individual, and Bede, especially, presents this way. He’s driven in his causes but he’s also thin-skinned and brittle. This is actually quite effective for the thriller side of the tale because we are always asking what he’s capable of when pushed too far.
As an American reader, I was especially intrigued by the descriptions of the region near the Welsh border in England, along with the colloquial speech of the characters. I can easily imagine a film with rich views of the countryside and intimate scenes of private life there.
The surprising conclusion was the perfect ending to this story of conflicting values, respect for the planet and all its living things, and the struggle of our times, which will no doubt continue. Even as we work to prepare a better future, the past is always close by.
August 21, 2024
Bede and his wife Elin are doing their best to save the environment from unscrupulous exploiters of its resources. Elin supports protests but Bede, cynical after so many failed ventures, has decided that living as sustainably as he can is his way of making a personal difference.
Bede is a complex, likeable character but easily angered and unable to accept the sudden death of the uncle he admired as an accident. His plainspeaking makes him enemies, but those who know him well accept, respect and like him.
This is an intelligent story with a building tension that threatens not only Bede's love for Elin, but his very life. Secrets and deception underpin the narrative and running through it all is the river that in many ways mirror's Bede's behaviour. At times, the river is tranquil and beautiful, flowing with light and productivity. At others, it swirls chaotically, rising unpredictably to overflow its confines and causing untold damage and heartbreak.
I'll be reading more by this author.
Bede is a complex, likeable character but easily angered and unable to accept the sudden death of the uncle he admired as an accident. His plainspeaking makes him enemies, but those who know him well accept, respect and like him.
This is an intelligent story with a building tension that threatens not only Bede's love for Elin, but his very life. Secrets and deception underpin the narrative and running through it all is the river that in many ways mirror's Bede's behaviour. At times, the river is tranquil and beautiful, flowing with light and productivity. At others, it swirls chaotically, rising unpredictably to overflow its confines and causing untold damage and heartbreak.
I'll be reading more by this author.
August 10, 2019
"Nothing stays the same. You know that as well as I do. Like the riverflow. There are peaceful times, but even then there's the scratch, scratch, scratch of erosion. Imperceptible but...there. Until it's time for big change, for renewal, and the floods come, taking away, yes, but bringing the promise of fertility and new beginnings in their wake."
Bede and Elin are environmentalists trying to live peacefully in their off-the-grid world by the river, but their neighbor is trying to get a fracking business up and running in their backyard. When secrets start to unfold and mysterious threats start to appear, Bede and Elin's world starts to unravel.
This is a gripping psychological thriller with a slow build-up of uncertainty and doubt of one's sanity with a surprising twist at the end.
Thank you to Ms. Layland for giving me the opportunity to review this book with the no expectation of a positive review.
Bede and Elin are environmentalists trying to live peacefully in their off-the-grid world by the river, but their neighbor is trying to get a fracking business up and running in their backyard. When secrets start to unfold and mysterious threats start to appear, Bede and Elin's world starts to unravel.
This is a gripping psychological thriller with a slow build-up of uncertainty and doubt of one's sanity with a surprising twist at the end.
Thank you to Ms. Layland for giving me the opportunity to review this book with the no expectation of a positive review.
August 5, 2019
3.5 rounded up to 4.
I felt very connected to Elin, more so than to Bede as I felt that he was very reserved, the side characters added depth to the story as well, especially Tamsin, seeing her willingness to help her neighbours even when it wasn’t necessary. I also enjoyed the old diary entries and finding out more about Joe’s earlier life. This book is very slow paced and unfortunately that is not what I enjoy in my books.
Read the rest of my review here: https://feedthecrime.wordpress.com/20...
I felt very connected to Elin, more so than to Bede as I felt that he was very reserved, the side characters added depth to the story as well, especially Tamsin, seeing her willingness to help her neighbours even when it wasn’t necessary. I also enjoyed the old diary entries and finding out more about Joe’s earlier life. This book is very slow paced and unfortunately that is not what I enjoy in my books.
Read the rest of my review here: https://feedthecrime.wordpress.com/20...
October 20, 2019
A psychological thriller set against the backdrop of climate change, with floods and fracking involved. When Bede Sherwell’s uncle is found drowned after a flood, he’s left devastated, but with his wife Elin and dog Kip they retreat to the environmentally friendly way of living. But when fracking encroaches on their life and the village in which they live, they’re back on the protest frontline. Little do they know it sets off events which will shake their lives to the core. A bit of a slow starter but there’s always this sense of foreboding, which continues to grow as the book reaches its climatic ending.
October 7, 2022
Read this authors first book ‘Someone Else’s
Conflict’ on a recommendation of a family member and loved it. Followed on by reading Riverflow. This has the same descriptive strengths as the first book. The plot is again a meaningful theme and well researched. Found the plot development strong and it raised issues which I had thought about before. The central relationship is realistically challenged and not saccharin. I’d recommend both books. I’m surprised the author is not known better as this a well crafted and serious novel like the first.
Conflict’ on a recommendation of a family member and loved it. Followed on by reading Riverflow. This has the same descriptive strengths as the first book. The plot is again a meaningful theme and well researched. Found the plot development strong and it raised issues which I had thought about before. The central relationship is realistically challenged and not saccharin. I’d recommend both books. I’m surprised the author is not known better as this a well crafted and serious novel like the first.
November 22, 2024
In this highly readable book, Bede and Elin are trying to live a sustainable, off-grid life on the outskirts of a small English village while recovering from the drowning death of a beloved uncle. But neighbors are making noises about fracking, acts of violence are being blamed on Bede, and Elin’s patience with her moody and principled husband is fraying. The climate echoes the rising tension with ceaseless rain and a rising river until the book reaches its final, heart-pounding conclusion. Be prepared to lose sleep; Riverflow cannot be put down once you are caught in its current.
December 22, 2024
Just the kind of book/ story I needed.
Easy to read.
Easy to read.
May 14, 2024
(This review was written for Writers Review blog and posted on 26th February 2024.)
This novel was a welcome surprise that came to me via a roundabout route. It began when I attended a Society of Authors ‘at home’ event – a workshop hosted by Lauren James, author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe and Green Rising, and founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League. The focus of the session was how to bring climate concerns into fiction set in the present day – not necessarily foregrounding the various issues, but rather weaving in details as part of the daily lives and concerns of the characters.
I find it irritating to read fiction set in the present day that makes no reference to the climate emergency – especially when characters are taking flights here and there, driving big cars and eating steak in restaurants. It’s almost as if there’s a parallel world to ours with no looming crisis and with no need to change and adapt. It seems, both in young adult and adult fiction, that climate awareness is largely limited to ‘cli-fi’ – fiction usually set in the future, often involving fantasy. (An honourable exception to this is Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood – see our summer round-up.)
After the workshop I joined the Climate Fiction Writers League and was invited by Lauren to write a conversation piece with another author. This author turned out to be Alison Layland, about her novel Riverflow, published in 2019. As I haven’t yet published adult fiction with an environmental theme (working on it) Alison is to read my non-fiction title, This Book is Cruelty Free – Animals and Us. (For anyone who doesn’t yet acknowledge the link between animal agriculture and the climate crisis, please read the book, or for a more comprehensive overview, Philip Lymbery’s Sixty Harvests Left.) I will add the link to my conversation piece with Alison when it’s online.
Knowing nothing of Alison Layland or her work, I found myself immediately drawn to her characters, setting and plot. Riverflow is set in a small Shropshire village, Foxover, close to which Bede and Erin, a couple in their thirties, have lived off-grid on a smallholding for many years. Until eighteen months ago they shared Alderleat with Bede’s uncle Joe, until he drowned in the surging river, leaving Bede unable to accept that his death was accidental.
The frictions and rivalries of a rural community are convincingly depicted. Bede and Erin, former activists, clash with local landowner Philip Northcote who’s developing a fracking site. Bede, clever at mechanics and problem-solving, is an idealist, probably on the autism spectrum and at times infuriating to live with; to some villagers he’s known as Eco, a nice demonstration of the ease with which people can pigeonhole and ‘other’ an outlier, avoiding the inconvenience of acknowledging that his views are both valid and necessary. He and Elin are devoted to each other, but with the unavoidable sticking-point that Elin wants children whereas Bede thinks it would be irresponsible to bring a child into this threatened world. Elin, too, tries to steer a calm course through village conflicts while Bede can never curb a sarcastic or angry response when challenged.
Partly through snippets of the journal Joe kept hidden, we’re drawn into the backstory of Bede’s upbringing. Never knowing who his father was, he was brought up by his mother until her death, when her brother Joe took him in. But Joe had secrets of which Bede is unaware and which begin to threaten the self-contained life he and Elin have built at Alderleat. The plot centres on a series of incidents involving Philip Northcote, his widowed mother Marjorie with whom Joe had a close relationship, and attractive newcomer Silvan, Northcote’s gamekeeper, who befriends Bede and Elin. Bede is apparently being framed for acts of minor sabotage – releasing pheasants reared for shooting, scratching the side of Northcote’s Bentley – and then for a far more serious crime. The revelation of who's behind this malice is cleverly constructed, with several clues hidden in plain sight.
What makes Riverflow so appealing is the deft and delicate portrayal of the shifting relationship between Bede and Erin, alongside the details of daily life which are always underpinned by environmental aspirations and what it’s practical to achieve. It’s rare and refreshing to read a novel set in the here and now that has climate issues so firmly at its core.
This novel was a welcome surprise that came to me via a roundabout route. It began when I attended a Society of Authors ‘at home’ event – a workshop hosted by Lauren James, author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe and Green Rising, and founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League. The focus of the session was how to bring climate concerns into fiction set in the present day – not necessarily foregrounding the various issues, but rather weaving in details as part of the daily lives and concerns of the characters.
I find it irritating to read fiction set in the present day that makes no reference to the climate emergency – especially when characters are taking flights here and there, driving big cars and eating steak in restaurants. It’s almost as if there’s a parallel world to ours with no looming crisis and with no need to change and adapt. It seems, both in young adult and adult fiction, that climate awareness is largely limited to ‘cli-fi’ – fiction usually set in the future, often involving fantasy. (An honourable exception to this is Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood – see our summer round-up.)
After the workshop I joined the Climate Fiction Writers League and was invited by Lauren to write a conversation piece with another author. This author turned out to be Alison Layland, about her novel Riverflow, published in 2019. As I haven’t yet published adult fiction with an environmental theme (working on it) Alison is to read my non-fiction title, This Book is Cruelty Free – Animals and Us. (For anyone who doesn’t yet acknowledge the link between animal agriculture and the climate crisis, please read the book, or for a more comprehensive overview, Philip Lymbery’s Sixty Harvests Left.) I will add the link to my conversation piece with Alison when it’s online.
Knowing nothing of Alison Layland or her work, I found myself immediately drawn to her characters, setting and plot. Riverflow is set in a small Shropshire village, Foxover, close to which Bede and Erin, a couple in their thirties, have lived off-grid on a smallholding for many years. Until eighteen months ago they shared Alderleat with Bede’s uncle Joe, until he drowned in the surging river, leaving Bede unable to accept that his death was accidental.
The frictions and rivalries of a rural community are convincingly depicted. Bede and Erin, former activists, clash with local landowner Philip Northcote who’s developing a fracking site. Bede, clever at mechanics and problem-solving, is an idealist, probably on the autism spectrum and at times infuriating to live with; to some villagers he’s known as Eco, a nice demonstration of the ease with which people can pigeonhole and ‘other’ an outlier, avoiding the inconvenience of acknowledging that his views are both valid and necessary. He and Elin are devoted to each other, but with the unavoidable sticking-point that Elin wants children whereas Bede thinks it would be irresponsible to bring a child into this threatened world. Elin, too, tries to steer a calm course through village conflicts while Bede can never curb a sarcastic or angry response when challenged.
Partly through snippets of the journal Joe kept hidden, we’re drawn into the backstory of Bede’s upbringing. Never knowing who his father was, he was brought up by his mother until her death, when her brother Joe took him in. But Joe had secrets of which Bede is unaware and which begin to threaten the self-contained life he and Elin have built at Alderleat. The plot centres on a series of incidents involving Philip Northcote, his widowed mother Marjorie with whom Joe had a close relationship, and attractive newcomer Silvan, Northcote’s gamekeeper, who befriends Bede and Elin. Bede is apparently being framed for acts of minor sabotage – releasing pheasants reared for shooting, scratching the side of Northcote’s Bentley – and then for a far more serious crime. The revelation of who's behind this malice is cleverly constructed, with several clues hidden in plain sight.
What makes Riverflow so appealing is the deft and delicate portrayal of the shifting relationship between Bede and Erin, alongside the details of daily life which are always underpinned by environmental aspirations and what it’s practical to achieve. It’s rare and refreshing to read a novel set in the here and now that has climate issues so firmly at its core.
August 29, 2019
The plot of this book was much like a winding river: there were slow meandering parts punctuated with periods of excitement, much like rapids on a river. The overall story was interesting, with the hot topic of fracking as an impetus for the action. This adds a twist to the character interactions because it is difficult to tell what is personal and what is tied to the fracking. A good read if you can get through the slow parts. For more thoughts, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. This review was written based on a complimentary, pre-release, digital ARC of the book.
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