The Daylight Gate

Yesterday afternoon, at around a quarter to five, I was driving the lanes.  It was the time of day when you can see, but not see.  The sky and the landscape merge into various greys, outlines of trees and hedges blur and the endless rain hastens the night in from the east.  It is a threshold, or liminal time.  The journey was the perfect backdrop to the haunting story I have just finished - The Daylight Gate.

It was not yet dark, but it was not light: the Daylight Gate.  And if you could pass through - to what - to where?

These words seem to me to be the essence of Jeanette Winterson's story.  And the writer does stress that this is a work of fiction, not a factual re-telling of the Pendle witch trials.  Not yet dark, but not light and this atmosphere is created and held throughout the book.  The in-between time, a time of questions and as a reader I was left with many questions thanks to the skilled weaving in to the story of the characters of Dr John Dee and William Shakespeare.  The enigmatic Alice stands at the heart of the tale; a love story in which the lovers are caught up in a time with events which are not of their making and not of their choosing.

Every so often a story comes along which holds my attention, all other books are put aside to allow for intense reading and engagement with the characters and the paths which their lives take.  Afterwards the story demands reflection and stays with me, raising its questions at odd times of the day and night.  One of those books I have to read to the end, but can't bear to finish.

And as for the cover - perfect for this season and a journey through the lanes ...