The Quiet Woman

Since the film debut of The Prestiege, I've been reading books by Christopher Priest non-stop. Beginning with The Prestiege, then moving back to some of his other novels including: Indoctrainare, The Affirmation, The Glamour, and some others. The Quiet Woman keeps with Priest's notion of a psychologicaly flawed character trying to give reason to their psychologicaly unstable world. Not only is the book thrilling, but the plot and character development are supurbley defined by Priest's subtle quasi-post-modern style. A great read for the seasoned Priest fan and the newcommer alike.

The Quiet Woman is probably Priest's least known novel, and judging by its rarity and the absence of a paperback edition, his least commercially successful one too. It's certainly not in the same league as The Affirmation or the The Glamour or The Prestige, but it is compelling nonetheless. The story revolves around a woman writer living in rural England, the murder of a friend, and the suppression of her most recent book. Priest touches on many themes here - largely political and literary - and the book is populated by a small cast of characters, each of whom is mysterious in their own way (except the cat, which is delightfully and typically feline!) The ambiguity of the characters, far from being a weakness, adds a certain edge to the story and, in typical Priest style, leaves you wondering about the nature of reality. It's not an 'alternate reality' novel like some of his others (The Affirmation, A Dream of Wessex, The Separation); it's more about different perceptions of reality, and how people create their own realities. The setting is equally mysterious, with hints of a recent nuclear disaster, crop circles and shadowy government cover-ups, none of which are developed to any great extent. Together, they provide rather a dark, disturbing backdrop for this interesting, slightly weird novel. If you like your books to leave you pondering, you should like this one. It's hard to get, but worth tracking down.