Tring Book Club - The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews

 

Full of 17th century atmosphere, the story had good pace and was always interesting. It alternates between 1643 and 1703 by which time Thomas Treadwater has nearly reached the ripe old age of eighty despite a nasty wound from the civil war and burns we hear about later in the book. There is a lot about witches early on. Thomas forms a relationship with Chrissa Moore, originally suspected as one.

Thomas has a sister called Esther and it is her background that forms a big part of a surreal story of shipwrecks and a monster. Strangely, the poet John Milton features heavily later on as the last fifty pages turn into a tense thriller. I preferred the earlier parts where the prose was much better.