The Golden Arrow

This is a love story, but so much more! Set in England in the 1800s, for once it's not about lords and ladies and heaving bosoms. It's about the love between a poor farmer's daughter and the young man who comes into her small community. Deborah, the main character, has a much deeper, much wider soul than her lover, Stephen. It's clear to see that he's very young, still trying to figure out who he is and what he wants from life. Deborah is one of those people with an old soul, even though she's his age chronologically. She's content with her life, the possibilities open to her, willing to dare all for love, and loves deeply. She is just wonderful. It's beautiful to see her connection with nature, with her father, and with Stephen. Anyone who's read Precious Bane, Mary Webb's prize-winning book, will recognize this as her first novel. I loved, loved, loved Precious Bane, and this one isn't as good. Still, it's good to see Webb working on her female characters, working in various points of view, and inserting some humor very skillfully. She shows us a man who doesn't deserve the woman he's got, and has to grow to be in relationship with her. It's written in old-fashioned language (well, it was written in 1920-something, and written about a time 100 years or so before that). Like Precious Bane, the dialog is in dialect, but you can soon figure it out, it's simpler than the dialect in Precious Bane. And the narrative is written in plain English. Personally, I don't much care for stories that tell all about the physical "symptoms" of being in love or making love, but I do like this kind, where the author is telling me something I don't already know: the thoughts and emotions of two very different people, the feelings behind their decisions, the things they don't know about each other. Webb draws other characters well, too, like shallow Lily, religious-fanatic (and unknowing fool) Eli, and others. Deborah's father is wonderful, and they have a beautiful relationship. You'll enjoy this book, though it's not perfect, if you like historic novels that reach into people's minds and show their fundamental humanity.