The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey

 

In 1491, the village of Oakham is guided by the local priest, John Reve.  There are not many houses or people and the village is cut off by a large river now that the last bridge, the third one built, has collapsed.  Reve is awakened one morning by the news that the village's wealthiest man, Tom Newman, was seen being carried away by the river.  Despite the fact that everyone came out to search, neither Tom nor his body are discovered.  Tom owned the majority of the land and without him there, the village is in peril of being bought by a nearby group of monks who want the land for themselves.

John notifies his superior who is both above him in the church hierarchy and who has legal authorities.  The dean comes that same day much to the priest's surprise and wants Reve to name the murderer by the end of the second day.  The dean has suspects; the man whose land Tom had bought bit by bit until he owned almost all of it; a woman who is sick now perhaps as a punishment from God, and another man who was known to have disagreements with Tom.  The priest is not willing to name anyone as a murderer because he knows all the town's secrets, even those he hasn't shared with the dean.

Samantha Harvey is an English author although she spent time in Ireland and Japan growing up.  This book takes the reader back into the poverty of the Middle Ages and the superstitions that ruled every aspect of daily life.  The secrets that the village priest knows are slowly revealed and each secret turns the thoughts of what happened to Tom Newman a different way.  Who is ultimately responsible?  Is the priest responsible for the actions of his flock?  Harvey has had her novels garner much attention, with several longlisted for the major literary prizes and Orbital winning the Booker Prize in 2024.  This novel is recommended for historical and literary fiction readers.