White Ravens by Owen Sheers

I got this novella in my Christmas stocking. It's a short but sweet little book from a series of stories by various authors, who use the Mabinogion, a collection of Welsh fables, as the basis for new stories. 'White Ravens' is based on a story called 'Branwen, Daughter of Llyr', which features the mutilation of horses, a Welsh-Irish marriage and the protection of Britain by a king's severed head. I read a few stories from the Mabinogion a while ago and really recommend them - very interesting and a completely different viewpoint on the way things were in ancient Britain, as well as purely magical fairytales.

But onto Owen Sheers. 'White Ravens', set partly during the Second World War, tells the tale of a family whose lives are changed by their war experiences. Matthew O'Connell is sent on a strange mission by the War Office, on which he meets and falls in love with Branwen. They marry. Branwen's brother Evan has been much changed by his war experiences and dreadful things happen. Matthew and Branwen move to Matthew's native Ireland and set about trying to be happy. But it is only then that it becomes clear that Matthew too has been damaged by his war experience. A climactic confrontation between Branwen's brothers and Matthew ensues. Years later, Rhian must make a decision about whether to abandon her sheep-rustling brothers or to stick by them...

'White Ravens' is a really interesting little book (I read it very leisurely over the course of a couple of days) with an uncomplicated but effective narrative structure: present > story from the past > present. I liked the circular nature of it, coupled with the fact that the ending remains slightly ambiguous. Sheers is clever with his story telling, revealing just enough but not too much, although I felt that some of the events towards the end of the story seemed a little rushed. Overall however, the narrative arc is well constructed and a joy to read, and I think Sheers' use of the Mabinogion was also very clever: he stuck to it, but not strictly, making a more realistic and ,but none the less magical tale.

You can tell by reading 'White Ravens' that its writer is a published poet. The writing itself is unfussy but considered, simple but not simplistic - for me, the best and most enjoyable writing there is. However, the book is peppered with truly original and stunningly exquisite descriptions; one of these that I remember particularly clearly was the description of the blood dripping from a piece of plastic wrapped meat, swirling like clouds in a sped-up weather forecast in the plastic, or something like that. Owen's imagery is new and something I have never seen before.

I liked the little extras in the book too - a quite synopsis of the Mabinogion story it was based on, and the lyrics in Welsh and English of a song that features in the book. Little touches like that really brought the story to life for me. Reading the lyrics of the song, I could really imagine Branwen singing it.

I would definitely be interested to read more books in this series and see how they rework the Mabinogion, and 'White Ravens' itself was a joy to read and a confirmation of my admiration for Sheers' writing.