The Remains of an Altar by
Philip Rickman
hbk out October 06
Published by Quercus
at £14.99
The Malvern Hills, the sudden first rampart between England and Wales, will never
look the same to me again as I drive up the M50 and M5. They are the 'ruined altar'
of the title, a magical range of hills, like the Preselis of Pembrokeshire.
Phil Rickman has done it again, thank God! Weaving a complex, but utterly
believable story around a core of local Malvern history and legends, in which to
enmesh the Reverend Merrily Watkins, Deliverance Consultant to the Diocese of
Hereford. He casts his net widely this time, as he drafts in Sir Edward Elgar – or at
least his ghost on a large bicycle– as central pivot of the plot. Then there is Arthur
Watkins, a contemporary of Elgar, who both lived in Hereford. Watkins is famed as
the protagonist of 'leys', the lines of earth energy which he claimed joined so many
ancient sites. Another new character is the local vicar, an ex-SAS soldier turned
priest. But it is Merrily, and above all her stroppy daughter Jane who dominates the
story – in my opinion, Jane upstages her mother in this book, rounding out into such a
compelling character.
A series of night-time road accidents occur in the diffuse, unsociable village of
Wychhill, which has a huge 1920's church far too big for it. It was built as a
conscience-offering by a quarry owner who repented too late for scarring the rocky
heart of the Malverns. It became a temple for the music of Elgar and now has an
organist and choirmaster obessed with the musician's memory. Whispers abound that
the accidents may have been caused by mysterious balls of light distracting divers –
even the possiblity of a wraith-like old gent on a bicycle.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Jane is getting steamed up over plans by a crooked
local councillor, replete with brown envelopes, to build 'luxury executive houses'
over a ley-line in the village, joining her mother's church with a prominent prehistoric
landmark. She gets herself deeper into trouble over this and only Gomer Parry 'Plant
Hire' manages to excricate her from deepening trouble.
Phil Rickman has this rare ability to make you believe in the unbelievable and he
peoples his stories with characters that defy your efforts to relegate them to the realms
of fiction. Though Merrily is always hesitant, diffident and doubtful of her own
abilities, when the chips are down, especially if Jane is at risk, she can become a tiger
in a dog-collar!
Years ago, the blurbs for the Leslie Charteris thrillers use to say 'the man who has
never heard of The Saint, is like the boy who has never heard of Robin Hood'……I
think that by now, much the same can be said of Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins!
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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The Remains of an Altar by
Philip Rickman
