Howl on the Wind by Charmian Hussey

A MAJOR challenge for Charmian Hussey must be to write fiction as dramatic and gripping as her own remarkable life. She began life as a model for some of London's top fashion houses, then trained as an archaeologist — a profession which took her to remote parts of Europe and the Middle East. Her adventures were manifold and often terrifying — including being kidnapped and scaling a mountain on horse back. She has diversified even further — importing and breeding an ancient type of Turkish dogs and also becoming a senior member of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Thus, potential readers of her novels could be justified in feeling perhaps an autobiography would be more riveting and thrilling than any fiction she could possibly write; not so, for her first novel, 'The Valley of Secrets', became a best seller and there can be little doubt that her publication, 'Howl on the Wind', will also leave bookshop shelves rapidly.

The book, set in Cornwall, is a cross between a mystery tale and a thriller written in a tight economic style which gives it both pace and punch. It is in her dialogue where so much of her strength lies. She moves the tale along, and holds the attention with crisp, realistic lines of conversation.

The storyline is based upon the discovery by 'Lizzie' and her brother 'Tom' of surprising and most unexpected facts concerning their long dead father, and the pursuit of truth regarding his life and death, a trail which takes them to various parts of the Duchy and leads to danger, supernatural encounters and more excitement than either of them really relish.

Told through Lizzie's eyes — wheelchair bound following a car crash which killed their mother — the story moves along in rapid, mind concentrating fashion through a plot line with more twists and turns than a mountain road, until it reaches a conclusion which arrives all to quickly; more than 200 pages will pass before the readers' eyes with rapid speed, and disappointment when it ends will be rife.

The quality of writing and strength of plot aid its fluency. Charmian Hussey uses chapters in a most unusual way, largely in terms of their brevity. For in this averagely sized novel there are almost 80 chapters, some no more than a couple of pages long and this works admirably, as the breaks are well chosen and the succinct nature of the episodes give urgently and edge to both the plot and the writing. She has employed the skills of a first class illustrator, Rose Forshall to give resonance to the story with the use of black and white sketches of such diverse range as mystic objects and symbols, a coat of arms, mine stacks, birds and wildlife, even the Victoria Cross; an imaginative innovation this, and one which certainly works.

Professionally and astutely written, well researched — plus of course the shrewd addition of the illustrations — this book is a publication which will please a wide range of tastes, interests and expectations.

'Howl on the Wind' by Charmian Hussey, illustrated by Rose Forshall, is published by Atlantic Press (ISBC 978-0-955734-87-8) priced at £12.99, available at Bookstop.

Ted Sherrell