The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld contains three interleaved stories. The novel begins with Viv as a child discovering a suitcase on a beach. The suitcase has a body inside. Viv’s story continues when she returns to the house where her mother lived before she married. A later chapter tells the story of a young man fleeing his 17th century village with Sarah, a young woman branded as a witch. In a third story, set after World War II, Ruth finds herself living in a house that may be haunted, the second wife of a man recently widowed.
This novel is a work of literary fiction. The three stories are linked by a common location: a seaside town on the coast of Scotland. The town is dominated by the Bass Rock, a misshapen outcrop in the sea, witness to a similar story played out over the generations. The story is one of male violence.
It is a heavy theme achieved amidst beguiling story-telling with flashes of humour and amusing repartee. Soothing detail of everyday life contrasts with brief passages of savage and horrifying violence. A sense of the inevitability of male violence builds like a wave through the novel until the final scene which reveals the story behind the body in the suitcase.
Along with its darkness, The Bass Rock contains love, compassion and care. The characters form friendships, wrestle with complicated family relationships, and above all, resist control. Of all the characters, Ruth, the second wife, was the one I found most intriguing and sympathetic. In time, Ruth stands up to the attempted gaslighting of her husband in a most satisfying way.
I read The Bass Rock twice. One reason was to savour the writing. The beauty and power of its language are extraordinary and they create the same pleasure I experienced reading Wyld’s previous novel, All the Birds Singing. With its exact choice of words and its visceral sensory images, the prose sings.
My other impetus for re-reading was to discover elements missed in the first reading. I was rewarded by revelations of important plot points and links between characters and generations. With its multiple layers and its subtlety of plot, this novel is richly rewarding. It has remained with me. Daily news of domestic violence and abuse reinforce the conclusion that ‘it was ever so’. However, the power of this novel is such that it invites us to challenge that message.
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Title: The Bass Rock
Author: Evie Wyld
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date: 2020
ISBN: 978-1-76089-475-7
Pages: 359
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