This is the third book I’ve read by Carys Davies; this one and Clear are in the category “historical fiction.” Clear was set in Scotland in the middle of the 19th century and I learned about the upheavals in the Church of Scotland and the land clearances. This one is set in 1815 in the US and opens in Pennsylvania with a widower setting off for the wilds of the western territories looking for monstrous creatures after reading about gigantic animal bones found in Kentucky. John Bellman studies the journals of Louis and Clark, sent on their expedition by “the old President,” for knowledge about his route. Bellman arranges for his sister to run his farm in Pennsylvania and care for his 10-year-old daughter with the aid of the farm hand who owns a bit of land nearby.
Let me note here that a story about a man hunting for dinosaurs in the West that Louis and Clark would have missed is not going to end happily. It was, however, a well-told tale that I was happy to read. It was appealing to read about the French trader who connected Bellman with an Indian boy who acted as his guide. I liked that the view of the Native Americans forced from their land was presented. John Bellman is a difficult to love but interesting character. The author shows us a man so obsessed by an idea that he is willing to leave his motherless child and undergo terrible privations and risk his death. The experience of the child left behind is also chilling.
The end which I won’t spell out, was unsatisfying. It felt hurriedly told and with less credibility than the rest of the tale.
Carys Davies, West, Scribner, 2019, 149 pages (I listened to the audiobook). Available in the public library.