Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night by Gethan Dick

 Info about the book

‘Original and lyrical...unlike anything I’ve read in recent memory’ JOHNY PITTS, presenter of R4’s ‘Open Book’ and author of Afropean

‘Vast, generous, funny, resistant and alive’ VALÉRIE MANTEAU, novelist and winner of the Prix Renaudot.

‘An original and vital perspective on much more than how a world ends: on how it begins' - OANA ARISTIDE, author of Under the Blue

Gethan Dick’s stunning debut is a thought-provoking post-apocalyptic novel, Fizzing with energy, anger, fear and ultimately hope.  Water in the Desert Fire in the Night will appeal to fans of Claire Kilroy, Megan Hunter and Cormac McCarthy.  

Here is a novel about hope, wolves, companionship and resilience, hunger and gold. It’s about an underachieving millennial, a retired midwife and a charismatic Dubliner who set out from London after the end of the world to cycle to a sanctuary in the southern Alps.  It’s about packing light and choosing the right companions and trousers: What’s worth knowing, what’s worth living and holding on to your sense of humour in moments big and small. It’s about the fact that the world ends all the time. It’s about what to do next!

My thoughts

My thanks to Helen Richardson and Tramp Press for the copy of this book to read and review to take part in the Blog tour of this book last year.  However, life had other plans for me at the time and I was around half way through the book at the time of the Blog tour.  I still took part and my blog post can be read here. Wyres World: Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night by Gethan Dick (Blog tour post)

Anyway back to the job in hand, my review of the book now that I have finished it.

This is an odd book to review in some ways, it flits around a lot and at times you never know where you are, this may be the intention of the Author though.  None of us know how we would cope and at times flit around a lot in a sense of panic like a headless chicken.   

I have enjoyed the book, as I do enjoy books set in the future like this one is.  It makes you think what life would be like living in a post apocalyptic era and how you would cope if you survived an apocalypse. Would you rather lose your life or be a survivor?  I have a feeling that I know my answer to that.

Quote

    '  So maybe Julie’s labour began when she saw the baby at the bonfire, or maybe it began a few mornings later while Martin and I were out fishing and fucking, so when we got back she had started having contractions and everyone was a little wired. Or maybe it began much later that day, because after a morning of contractions Julie ate some lunch and then lay down and slept while we rattled about the house, uneasy and unable to think about doing anything because we kept expecting it to start again. Sarah did not rattle about. She quietly got a couple of things ready and sat down and had a cup of tea while we all walked around bumping into each other, and then when we’d been doing that for about half an hour, Pressure Drop said, ‘Right then, let’s go and find the rock.

     'So we were all, ‘Rock? What rock?’    

     And he said that in Ireland, out in the sticks and back in the day, if a birth was difficult the men of the house went out and found the biggest rock they could lift and carried it three times round the edge of the farm, and that was supposed to help. Sarah got a good laugh out of that, and then said that, rocks aside, if Julie’s body was resting itself now then it’d be a long night, and the best thing any of us could do was get some rest.  '

The above made me laugh.  If only the man of the house lugging a rock round a field, would make a pregnancy go easier.  It would make life so much easier for the lady giving birth.