Now We Shall Be Entirely Free: The Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2019

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When John finds himself eating in the same hotel bedroom as Emily, Miller describes how: “Hehe could not get the word fucking out of his head. And when you think it's all done and dusted - the writing by numbers reaching its natural conclusion - the denouement strangely tips all that aside and leaves the reader asking 'what? Meanwhile, having made it to a remote Hebridean island on the back of a cow (one of the book’s running jokes), John encounters the Fender siblings: eccentric Cornelius, hardworking Emily, and ravishing Jane, who is five-months pregnant by Thorpe, the leader of their quasi-pagan community of free-thinkers.

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free is full of the kind of historical detail that gives its world solidity, but it is not burdened by it; Miller uses his very specific and deftly dramatized story about a particular time and place to explore the kinds of choices we all have to make in our lives about where to go and why, and to ask what we hope to find if we ever get there.Meanwhile in Spain the English army is pressured to investigate war crimes English soldiers committed in Spanish village, the English and Spanish soldiers are sent to hunt the officer responsible. Like most of his books, it’s set in the past — in the early 19th century, in this case, when John Lacroix, a British Army officer and veteran of the Peninsular War between England and France, is deposited, half-dead, at his estate in Somerset. when business was brisk,” and explains to his companion about “the creeler, the gaffer, the carding room.

I’m not going to give away too much of the plot (no more than if you were to read the jacket flap) as I believe the reader will find pleasure in experiencing Miller’s story on their own. It was odd to take in the world through his feet, the soles as sensitive, as inquisitive as a tongue. In the course of his journey, Lacroix experiences both the best and worst of humanity, experiencing violence but also the kindness of strangers. A brilliantly told historical fiction novel, with rich characters and a wonderful plot - such tensely dramatic moments! An atrocity takes place in a Spanish village when English soldiers, retreating in chaos from Napoleon's forces, run amok.Por primera vez en años, una recomendación hecha por el personal de Waterstones no me terminó de convencer. As mentioned above, I enjoyed Now We Shall Be Entirely Free immensely and it afforded me a welcome opportunity to completely lose myself in a good story. The pacing of his story is excellent; his style is crisp; his apprehension of pain is arresting; and his ability to show people trembling at the edge of un-reason is compelling. The novel’s Peninsular Wars setting was something that attracted me to it (I enjoyed Thomas Hardy’s evocation of that period in The Trumpet Major). And I kept liking this book less with every chapter until I was pushing myself towards the finish line, hoping I can still enjoy something in the book.

And the re-issue of the book is from Europa Editions–it seems that every book I have read under that publishing house I really like (The Elena Ferrante Neopolitan series; The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery). I'll quote from Johanna Thomas-Corr review in The Guardian: the fact it’s not made this year’s Man Booker longlist is already something of a travesty.

Historical fiction comes with risks, of course, as George Eliot acknowledged (risks she conspicuously failed to avoid in Romola), and there are plenty of flatly mediocre examples of the genre to be had (as there are of every genre) but for me, really good historical fiction is about as good as fiction gets ( ahem). I appreciated the inclusion of the Hebrides, but having holidayed on various of those stunning islands for many years, I couldn't understand the lack of detail and almost sparseness of the prose in those parts. I don't read a whole lot of historical fiction, but something about the plot description of this one really appealed to me, and I'm so glad I got to read this memorable story. Once an army was in retreat, humiliated, starving, and no longer with any meaningful leadership, some men lost all their humanity and decency.