Witch Light by Susan Fletcher
Had I seen this book while browsing I would have dismissed it as witch/vampire genre and of little interest to me. And then I would have missed something. I’m thankful to my book group for choosing it. It contains some of the best nature writing I have ever read.
Had I seen this book while browsing I would have dismissed it as witch/vampire genre and of little interest to me. And then I would have missed something. I’m thankful to my book group for choosing it. It contains some of the best nature writing I have ever read.
The heroine,
Corrag, is a witness to the Glencoe Massacre. She is condemned as a witch and awaits
death by burning. Charles Leslie, a Jacobite priest, arrives seeking her
testimony. Corrag’s biography is interwoven with her account of the massacre but
for me the narrative soon became secondary to Corrag’s voice. In a previous post I wrote about voice as a distinctive taste that lingers. The taste of Witch
Light is exquisite.
The priest
is a good but staid and limited man. Corrag increasingly affects him. He comes
prepared to protect his soul from contamination and leaves with his doors of
perception widened. Corrag is soul-kin to Leslie’s wife, winter to her summer. He is bewitched by Corrag, but only in the sense of learning to live from his heart, and so he becomes a better man and husband.
Corrag
exists in a bubble of profound beauty. She lives like a wild thing and speaks
like a poet. This is literary laudanum. Mind loses its boundaries not in the
way of madness but with compassion and delicacy. The author gives words to the
quiet rapture of sub-linguistic perception. And then she does it again. Living
simply in nature, Corrag accepts daily gifts of psychedelic clarity, sensual
immersion and mystical imagery. The distinction between spiritual and material
is lost. As you read you will shape shift. You will stand in a waterfall with
moths in your hair.
Corrag’s
love affair with nature extends to Alasdair, a male extension of the land. His
passion for place is actively custodial. Hers is passive, surrendered,
grateful.
The relationships
in the book are softly drawn. Interactions are barely physical: more
concerned with the subtle transmissions that occur between souls.
I have often
wondered why history stands so near for the Celt. The book helped me see why
this is so. I can vouch that Rannoch Moor emphatically
broods and holds its history. It is easy to hear battle murmurs and to feel a
metallic flood in the back of the throat. The clans are of a piece with their
land and each other. The mist sits on them as on rock without discrimination.
The brutality and treachery of the Glencoe Massacre is personalised. Naturally
it would be transcribed into the DNA.
The book group view
Much praise
for the quality and lyricism of the writing.
The voice
and character of Corrag was particular and affecting.
Many of us felt inspired to visit the locations in the book.
Many of us felt inspired to visit the locations in the book.
Took a few chapters to get into as an expectation of a stronger narrative drive.
One person struggled with the intensity of the voice.
Some would
have liked more historical background.
Discussions and digressions
Minority
groups, conformity and its evolution, caste systems, school uniform, religion,
herbalism.
As soon as I finished Witch Light I wanted to know more about
the author. Many thanks to Susan Fletcher for this interview.
There are
some staggeringly lyrical passages in the book. Do you write poetry?
Thank you for finding a poetic feel to my book. I do try for that - above all I want to tell a story, but secondly I want to tell it (always) in the most beautiful way I can. Yes, I write poetry. I always have - although never, I feel, to an extent that I'd feel confident enough to try to find publication. But poetry was always my first love, and I read it regularly. During the writing process of my books, I find poetry a wonderful distraction and inspiration combined.
I haven’t
read your other books yet so I can’t judge where Witch Light stands in
comparison. Quite often authors write one stand out book that contains their
own essence. It’s the book they were born to write. Witch Light has that feel.
Is it your favoured child?
Is Witch Light my favourite child ...?
Hard one to answer! But it was certainly a novel that poured of me without too
much pause for thought, which felt as if I was tapping into something inside me
that had been waiting to be found. It is essentially a novel about goodness,
and I suppose in that respect its themes and overall message make it my
favourite, yes. But each book took me on a journey in which I discovered new
things about me as a writer, and me personally. It's a trite answer, but I love
them all!
Witch Light
was written instinctively while your earlier books were carefully plotted. Most
writers have a strong preference for one method over the other. Have you
reverted to planning or is the pantster out of the bottle for good?
I think I now
combine the instinctive way of writing with the planned ... I need, without
doubt, a gut reaction to an idea before I can turn it into a novel; I need an
instinctive response to it, almost something visceral. But I also have
deadlines (I didn't have one, with Witch Light; I was writing out of contract
and therefore had as much time as I needed) these days, which mean that a
degree of planning is needed. I try to fuse both, these days.
If a group
of evangelical Pagans wanted a bible I’m sure Witch Light would bring them
converts. I live near Glastonbury and have friends who wear flowers in their
dreads, have pet crystals and walk the fields at dusk theatrically reciting
poetry. Would you fit in?
I love Glastonbury! I am not sure whether I'd
go so far as have a pet crystal ... But I love its sense of freedom - people
being as they choose, living as they want to - and the heart of paganism seems
to be, for me, a celebration and awareness of nature. That part is certainly
something I recognise. Corrag talks of the 'betwixt and between times' - dawn
and dusk - and I certainly feel there's a special feeling to those times. And
the passing of the seasons, the phases of the moon ... I'm not a dedicated follower
to either, but I am aware of them. And I love the wild places - or a garden, if
not. I've been to Glastonbury several times and each time I've felt at ease
there.
Corrag has a
worldview to shame many sages. To what extent do you share it? Is it possible
to bring that sensibility to modern life?
Bringing Corrag's sensibilities to
modern life ... In small ways, it's certainly possible, I think. I like to
believe (hope!) that I have always been well-meaning and keen to ensure the
welfare of others. (I was raised that way - and toyed with nursing as a
profession, for a while). The simple notion of being friendly and empathic
makes so much difference, to everyone involved. On a larger scale, Corrag's
sensibilities might be trickier to realise, perhaps. I think she'd watch the
refugee situation with horror. I think there is violence going on in the world
that she - like me, and so many others - couldn't fathom or bear; but I think
she'd try to counteract it in her own small acts. Lifting a snail off a pavement,
for example. That would be her way - the little gestures - and those are always
possible to do.
I’d love to
know what your literary influences are. If you had to choose one favourite book
from each decade of your life what would they be?
Literary influences! Poetry, both in
the beginning and still. Seamus Heaney and Robert Frost were two inspirations,
and Heaney remains my true north of writing, perhaps. He fuses the human heart
with nature - essential to good writing, for me. Also Margaret Atwood, the
Bronte sisters, Michael Ondaatje, Elizabeth Smart ... One book from each decade
of my life is a hard one! I'd say, instinctively: 0-10 was The BFG by Roald
Dahl; 11-20 was both Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Heaney's Death of a
Naturalist; 21-30 would be The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje and 31-36
would be ... too many to call. Anything by Donna Tart, Marilynne Robinson or
Barbara Kingsolver, perhaps. And reaching over all of these books is, and
always will be, Shakespeare.
Also check out this magical link from @sfletcherauthor new archaeological find in Glencoe.
Also check out this magical link from @sfletcherauthor new archaeological find in Glencoe.
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