Book Review: Duncton Wood

This is a book that sweetly takes its time in drawing the reader in. Painting in elaborate detail the lives, loves, surroundings and trials of the Duncton system.

In this touching fable, we follow the story of several mole generations through the decline of Duncton. The two central characters are timid Bracken and loving Rebecca, who is the daughter of the fearsome Mandrake, a mole that rules the system with iron talons.

Religion, ambition, greed, lust, love, tenderness, compassion and cruelty: William Horwood succeeds in enthralling the reader in the epic story as these emotions shape the happiness and destiny of an entire world. Only every so often are you reminded that this world is only a very small corner of rural England, and then you are brought back for a moment into your human skin, but only for a moment.

Horwood reminds us of the human side of animals, and the animal side of humans, as the unnecessary tragedy and destruction of war take their toll, and tragedy after tragedy wreaks havoc on the lives of these small creatures. They ask themselves the timeless questions humans have asked since they developed reasoning. They wonder about the existence and nature of a higher power, which for them is embodied in a stone. They love and suffer and wonder what the point of it all is. They hate and cause hurt even to the ones they love, but sometimes they acquire the wisdom to learn from their mistakes.

This is a deeply philosophical book, but while the slow pace means it is not exactly a page-turner, it manages to entertain and move the reader, leaving you with an odd sense of peaceful sadness as you finish the last few pages.