Book Club | Sarah Winman’s A Year Of Marvellous Ways

It’s Good Friday and the start of a four day weekend so there’s no excuse not to snuggle up with a cup of tea and a good book. The latest Book Club review comes once again from Emma Kingston from Year of the Yes.

Without a doubt, my favourite thing about being part of the RMS Book Club has been the huge variety in the stories that it has brought into my world. I have been lucky enough to love each and every one, and today’s is no exception.

I’d had my eye on A Year of Marvellous Ways since it came out in hardback. But I was struggling to justify another book purchase that would most likely fall to the back of my ever-growing ‘to be read’ pile. Particularly as my meager supply of bookcases (everyone needs more than two, right?) are about to buckle under the strain of being significantly over-stacked. (I know, I need to look at moving somewhere that will accommodate a full-scale library asap. I am on the case, though I suspect my mortgage advisor will have different views).

The Winter Book Club gave me the perfect opportunity to give Sarah Winman’s latest offering a queue jump.

And as a reward I was treated to a spellbinding novel that has been beautifully and lovingly crafted into page after page of enchanting, lyrical prose.

It is the story of eighty-nine-year-old Marvellous Ways, whose mystical and intriguing world centres round a creek in Cornwall. Marvellous has many tales to tell, but she is waiting for one last story to become part of her own, that of Francis Drake.

Francis is a young soldier scarred by war and scarred by love. Though an unlikely candidate, it quickly becomes apparent that only Marvellous can fix him.

Both Marvellous and Francis have tales of love and loss to tell, though their lives were seemingly worlds apart. An array of entrancing stories from them both are littered throughout, but they are perfectly knitted together – during the course of which dreams are shattered, realities made and magic happens.

At a recent event Sarah Winman proclaimed, “I’m not interested in the probable, only the possible.” That is particularly apparent in Marvellous’ story. She is a remarkable character and woven throughout her narrative are elements of fantasy and wonder. It truly indulges your imagination. But it requires you to come to the book as a non-skeptical reader, to suspend belief or judgment and just be open to simply embrace beautiful storytelling.

In fact, so beautiful was Sarah Winman’s storytelling that I am ordering her first novel, When God was a Rabbit , as we speak (/type/read), and I am already eagerly anticipating her next offering (which will apparently be the first novel she ever wrote, that wasn’t published – about secret love).

So if you haven’t already picked up this delightful tale, and you are looking for a read that will warm the cockles of your heart, then this is for you. Be warned, it’s not particularly fast paced, but it is a treasure of a story.

If you have been reading along with me – I would love to hear what you thought in the comments below. As is standard, in all my book club geekery, I have fished out some questions for you to muse on:

What do you think about the relationship between Francis and Marvellous? Memory is a central theme in the book – do you think it was presented as something that is reliable? How did you feel about the element of magic in the book – did it intrigue you or turn you off?

Even though I haven’t read it yet, I’ve got a feeling I’m going to love today’s book. When God was a Rabbit is one of my all time favourite books, so I can’t wait to read Sarah Winman’s newest offering. What did you think about it? Is it as good as When God was a Rabbit? Please say it is!

{WINTER READS}