We Lived in Drumfyvie by Margaret Lyford-Pike and Rosemary Sutcliff

[regshoe]

Trying something a bit different for the annual Sutcliff this time.

We Lived in Drumfyvie (1975) is a series of short stories about the history of a fictional Scottish town (nothing to do with the real Fyvie in Aberdeenshire, setting of my favourite ballad), from its creation as a burgh by David I in the twelfth century to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at the end of the nineteenth.

I really like this concept! I like short story series (as opposed to novels or more typical collections of unrelated short stories), and using that structure to show the historical development of a single place is a very cool idea. The settings are picked to illustrate particularly important events and trends in Scottish history, and also show the development of Drumfyvie over time as a typical example of the sort of place it is; I especially liked how specific named locations from the town recur, change and disappear across the centuries. I also enjoyed the occasional and plausibly-deniable appearance of the fairies, which seems in line with the ambiguous or faint presence of the supernatural in a lot of Sutcliff's books.

My overall opinions of the book were mixed, though. There's a lot to like about it, it certainly doesn't let its interesting premise down; but neither does it really do everything it could have done with it, and there's a general feeling of lacking depth relative to Sutcliff's novels.

I had never heard of Margaret Lyford-Pike before this book; according to the Sutcliff wiki (what a useful site) she was a radio writer/producer, and also wrote a couple of fairytale collections. I don't know how exactly she and Sutcliff did the co-writing—the natural thing to imagine for a set of short stories is that they each wrote some of them—but I thought the entire book felt less Sutcliffian than her novels. The prose and descriptions are nice and there are some good details, but Sutcliff's constant flow of rich descriptive language wasn't there, incredibly well-observed landscape and nature descriptions or anything else; nor did the character or emotional development feel as sharp as she's capable of elsewhere, though there are some memorable moments. So perhaps I don't get on with Lyford-Pike's writing like I do with Sutcliff's; perhaps it's partly just that the short story format means there's less room for everything; according to the wiki the stories were probably originally written for radio, which may also have made a difference.

Also, I did feel that there wasn't really a need for every single one of twelve first-person narrators across fourteen stories to be male. Several of the stories feature prominent female characters! No reason they couldn't have got to narrate a bit too!

Speaking of which, three of the stories—'The Man-at-Arms', set before and around the Battle of Flodden Field, and 'We Sign the Covenant' and 'God Be with You', a paired set of stories set during the Civil War and attendant religious conflicts—have notable slash potential, especially the last one, which is a friends-to-enemies-on-opposite-sides story and feels rather like a miniature Scottish redo of the novel Simon.

Comments

[oracne]

I don't think I've ever even seen that collection!

[regshoe]

I think I found it by looking for more later-set Sutcliffs. Though I might go back to the Roman books next!

[osprey_archer]

Oooh, I've just been thinking it's about time for another Sutcliff for me. Maybe this will be the one!

[regshoe]

I think it is worth reading—hope you enjoy it if you do!

[hedgebird]

My feelings on Drumfyvie are pretty similar - decent book, not a top ten Sutcliff. And yep, an unwarrantable sausagefest of narrators, from a 21st century perspective.

I've always wanted to know more about the writing process, since it's her only book with a co-writer. I can't separate Lyford-Pike from Sutcliff by style, but plenty of the subject matter, like 18th century elections, I wouldn't expect from Sutcliff on her own. Alas for the lack of an authors' note.

Have you read any other of Sutcliff's short stories? I'd be curious if you also find them lacking depth/less descriptive compared to her novels.

[luzula]

Here's what I wrote in my review of Sutcliff's short stories: I didn't feel like her nature and landscape description got to shine here, but I suppose if you're writing a short story you're more likely to put the words into developing the characters and plot.

[hedgebird]

Yeah, that seems likely. I'd also factor in that most of her short stories were aimed at younger kids than most of her novels.

[regshoe]

Yes, it goes a long way out of Sutcliff's typical periods (is the last story here the single latest-set thing she ever (possibly/co-) wrote?).

I have not read any of the other short stories yet, no—I'll look forward to seeing what I make of them.

[hedgebird]

Almost: it's her latest-set historical fiction. But three picture books she published in the '80s (The Roundabout Horse, Little Hound Found, A Little Dog Like You) have contemporary settings.

[regshoe]

Aww, I didn't know she'd written picture books! That's cool. *goes to look them up on the wiki*

[sovay]

according to the wiki the stories were probably originally written for radio, which may also have made a difference.

I went looking for any of their original air dates and had not quite realized just how much Sutcliff was either written or dramatized for radio beyond The Eagle of the Ninth; it's a ton. But also if you just search by her name, BBC Genome sorts automatically by relevance and thus the first thing that comes up is a 1984 interview: "I was brought up like a Spartan Youth; to take problems, troubles, pain lightly."

[regshoe]

Occasionally the volume of obscure radio adaptations of old books that exists has been brought to my attention by some link, and it's amazing.

[hedgebird]

Thanks for pointing out that interview. I've added it to the list on the wiki.

[sovay]

Thanks for pointing out that interview. I've added it to the list on the wiki.

You're welcome! Thanks for maintaining a wiki for Rosemary Sutcliff.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Ohh, I always like fictional places and short story series, and this sounds really interesting!!