Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor

I have long been a fan of Jon McGregor. One of the first Recommends cards I ever wrote was for If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - a rare and remarkable thing that I recommend as often as I can. I later found So Many Way to Begin, a novel that turns the protagonist David's life into a museum exhibit, seemingly innocuous objects given descriptions that place them at important moments in his life. I then picked up Even the Dogs second-hand at a bookstall on Cambridge market which even at my least favourite of the three is still a luminous and insightful read. 

The latest, and Man Booker Long-listed, Reservoir 13 does not disappoint, as it is both wonderful and deeply indicative of McGregor's style. In If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, the reader is omnipresent in a single street, entering every house in the aftermath of a tragic event. In Reservoir 13 McGregor sticks to this concept, but is more ambitious, as this time an entire village falls under the scope of his gaze, and the years glide past as you turn the pages. 

This isn't a story with a central character (though there is a case to be made for the main character being the girl who goes missing in the opening of the book, but can you be the protagonist in absentia?) but rather a tapestry of many voices. McGregor gently touches on every life in the village, shining a light briefly into every window and picking out moments that alone might seem insignificant but together weave a portrait of a community struggling its way through turmoil. The seasons come and go, and you are treated to beautiful wide-angle shots of the landscape changing, the fox cubs coming and going, and the fields cycling through their harvest.

It's hard to write a review of this book that includes more than fleeting references to the story line. There is only really a single major plot-point, the disappearance of the girl, but there are innumerable minor ones that are too many to mention, and out of context might seem rudimentary. Within the novel they gain significance as the reader begins to know the village and its residents intimately. It comes as a bit of a shock when the book ends and you realise that you don't in fact live there but must leave the families, the houses, the businesses, and the fox cubs, behind.

Robyn