Red Shift

Published in 1973 this book by Alan Garner is definitely written for older readers. The novel consists of three inter-twined narratives set at the end of Roman Britain with the demise of the Ninth Legion, during the English Civil War and in 1960s England. A focal point in each story is the finding of a late Neolithic / early Bronze age axe. The axe appears to affect the thinking and actions of one character in each story, at time providing additional powers or perception of a situation. Each of the affected men, Macey, Thomas and Tom, see blue and silver lights in the sky when something is going to happen. Tom also describes a red shift that occasionally appears.

War and / conflict conflict feature in the background to each story. The remnants of the retreating Ninth Legion face attack from Celtic tribes while, during the 1640s, the villagers await the inevitable attack from Irish Royalists. In the 1960s Tom and Jan try to avoid interference in their relationship from Tom's parents.

For each of the main characters, although they are each protected and loved by strong females, there is the constant fear that there is worse to come. In two of the narratives the axe head is hidden only to be rediscovered centuries later.

Sections of each narrative sometimes run into each other but this just adds to the mystique of the story. Much of the dialogue consists of short sentences, a technique used by Alan Garner in other works, creating a poetic effect to the narrative.

Having just read the memoir, Where shall we run to? it was interesting to see how Alan Garner has incorporated childhood experiences into the novel. As well as the description of Cheshire locations, including Mop Cow Hill the author incorporates lines from traditional songs which he was aware of as a child. All in all Red Shift is another challenging reading experience provided by Alan Garner.

Review - Book of a lifetime: Red Shift by Alan Garner (The Independent 28 January 2011).

In Red Shift, Jan and Tom correspond in code and a copy of a coded letter ends the book. The following link may be required to decipher the code. The Red Shift Code.