None So Blind by Alis Hawkins — seeking justice for the downtrodden
Drive to the far west of Wales and you’ll eventually get to the Teifi valley, officially designated as an area of “Outstanding Natural Beauty”.
As shown in None So Blind, however, this place of rolling hills, sparkling streams and grazing sheep was anything but idyllic in the nineteenth century.
The middle of the century saw a period of rural unrest as tenant farmers – often dressed as women and with blackened faces – rose up in protest over rising rents for farmland at a time of falling prices for sheep and cattle.
They called themselves ‘Rebecca and her daughters’, taking for inspiration a passage in the Bible where Rebecca talks of the need to ‘possess the gates of those who hate them.’
The Rebecca rioters vented their anger against toll gates which they viewed as the manifestation of high taxes. They also enacted retribution against members of the community felt to have transgressed its expected standards of behaviour, using the tradition of the Ceffyl Pren (“wooden horse”) in which offenders would be paraded around their neighbourhood tied to a wooden frame.
The time of the Rebecca Riots provides a background for None so Blind, the first of the Harry Probert-Lloyd Mysteries, a historical mystery series by Aiis Hawkins.
It begins with an unnamed narrator who is a secret witness to an event, the consequences of which will not become apparent until seven years later when a set of bones are uncovered beneath a fallen tree.
Harry Probert-Lloyd, son of the local squire and county magistrate, believes they are the remains of a servant girl he loved and was forced to abandon. When an inquest delivers a verdict of accidental death, he determines to seek out the truth for himself. His quest brings him into conflict not only with his father but with people who were once Rebecca rioters.
Harry’s training as a lawyer helps him penetrate half truths and lies. He has one significant problem however: his sight is failing and he is slowly going blind. He enlists the services of a law clerk, John Davies, to be his “eyes”.
We’ve become accustomed in recent years to fictional ‘detective’ figures whose characters are flawed in some regard. Harry’s blindness is considerably more than a mere literary trick to give him more ‘character’. It changes how people react to him and how he has to conduct his investigation, making him far more acutely aware of nuances and gaps in what people tell him.
… I had not appreciated just how much of what we say is dictated by what we observe; a look of embarrassment causing a change of topic, a flush of enthusiasm and a bright eye egging one on … confusion prompting a clearer explanation…
It also becomes central to Harry’s relationship with John Davies. They begin as employer and hired servant but evolve into friends whose mutual desire for justice and the truth enable them to cross the divide between their respective status in society. As they warmed to each other (despite some misunderstandings at times) I found myself equally warming towards this pair.
The plot is well constructed and the feelings of guilt experienced by Probert-Jones that he didn’t do more to help his former girlfriend, give the novel some emotional depth. But the real strengths of None so Blind lie in its historical context of the Rebecca Riots. I knew of the riots through history lessons in school. They were always portrayed as a kind of working class hero campaigners, the poor men willing to stand up and say “no more” .
It was fascinating to learn through None so Blind that the rioters became a force feared by the very people they had set out to aid. As Harry’s father explains, farmers took to hiding in their crops to avoid being dragooned by the rioters into joining their cause. Whatever genuine grievance compelled the rioters to take up their weapons, was lost as the protest gained momentum. Even Harry recognises that:
… once people unaccustomed to power have felt its potency, they are apt to begin wielding it indiscriminately, with results that are usually far from quaint.
None so Blind has a lot to say about justice, responsibility and the treatment of the poor. It does so in a way that was entertaining and engaging. The dynamics between Harry and John work well and the use of an unidentified narrator adds a further level of mystery to a tale which contains many secrets. The historical background was also well managed – Alis Hawkins avoids the mistake (unforgivable in my eyes) of many a writer who, having done their research, feel compelled to include it within the text. Instead we get an introductory note about law and order, and the roles of police and coroners in nineteenth century west Wales, plus a lengthy explanation about the Rebecca Riots.
This weaving of history and fiction reminded me of two other series I’ve enjoyed in the past: the highly successful series by C. J Sansom set in Tudor England that features the hunchback lawyer Matthew Shardlake and the series by Bernard Knight about a coroner in King Richard’s reign. Maybe the Harry Probert-Lloyd series will become another of my favourite series.
None So Blind by Alis Hawkins: Footnotes
Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire, Wales (part of the Teifi Valley). She trained as a speech and language therapist but spent three decades variously working in a burger restaurant, bringing up two sons, working with homeless people, providing support to children and young people on the autism spectrum.
Her first novel, Testament, was published in 2008 by Macmillan and was translated into several languages. It has recently been acquired for reissue, along with her medieval trilogy of psychological thrillers, by Sapere Books. Alis is a founder member of the Welsh crime writing collective Crime Cymru.
None So Blind, published in 2017, is the first in a series featuring Harry Probert-Lloyd. Later books in the series are: In Two Minds (reviewed here ), Those Who Know and Not One Of Us.
Alis is one of the authors featured in my Meet A Welsh Author series. She shared insights about her approach to historical research and her favourite writing space.
This review was published at Bookertalk.com in 2019. This is an updated version with formatting changes to improve readability and upgrade to the WordPress block editor platform. It is re-published in support of #throwbackthursday hosted by Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog.
#Dewithon24: A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins : BookerTalk
[…] Alis Hawkins is just as thoroughly researched and carefully constructed as her earlier books in the Teifi Valley Coroner series set in mid nineteenth century […]
lydiaschoch
I wasn’t aware of this bit of history. (I grew up in the U.S. and our history classes didn’t cover much about other countries). This sounds very good.
BookerTalk
So glad to have introduced you to a little of our history Lydia. To be fair to you, I suspect there are many many people in Wales who don’t even know about this episode
Reading Wales 2022 – Book Jotter
[…] None So Blind by Alis Hawkins — seeking justice for the downtrodden – BookerTalk […]
Davida Chazan
I’ve heard good things about this book, so thanks for this!
BookerTalk
Always a pleasure to introduce people to authors from Wales
Davida Chazan
My father-in-law was born in Wales, and I visited a couple of times. However, his family were originally from Ukraine.
BookerTalk
It must be a very emotional time for that side of your family right now
Davida Chazan
I don’t think anyone from my FILs family are still there, and even if they were, we wouldn’t know – my FIL passed away about 18 months ago.
BookerTalk
I understand
Lisa Hill
High praise indeed to compare it to CJ Sansom!
In Two Minds by Alis Hawkins — legal questions and moral doubts : BookerTalk
[…] clerk who acts as Harry’s eyes and ears. This pair had their first outing in None So Blind, the opening novel in the The Teifi Valley Coroner series set in the rural communities of the Teifi […]
Con
This sounds like something I will enjoy and thank you for starting with the first book in the series. I hate when I read spoilers by accident in a review or by requesting a book mid-series.
BookerTalk
Book 1 is quite important in terms of the personal story of the lead character and why he returns to Wales. Sometimes you can start in the middle of a series and it doesn’t matter too much but with this one it does affect how you read the other books
Tuning Up For Wales Reading Month : BookerTalk
[…] is the second in her historical crime series set in mid nineteenth century rural Wales. The first None So Blind was fantastic so I have high hopes for this one. Book number three comes out in May so I need to put […]
Uncovered: An Overdose Of Crime On The Shelves : BookerTalk
[…] by Alis Hawkins. It’s the second in her Teifi Valley Coroner series and I enjoyed the first None So Blind so much I had to get the follow up. I do need to read this soon however because there is a […]
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[…] My review of None So Blind is here […]
19 books taking the wheels off my wagon : BookerTalk
[…] in the Harry Prober-Lloyd series of historical crime novels set in Wales. I read the first, None So Blind, earlier this year and was so engrossed in the tale of a man suffering a degenerative eye condition […]
19 books taking the wheels off my wagon | BookerTalk
[…] in the Harry Prober-Lloyd series of historical crime novels set in Wales. I read the first, None So Blind, earlier this year and was so engrossed in the tale of a man suffering a degenerative eye condition […]
Alis Hawkins drops into Cwtch Corner #Waleswrites | BookerTalk
[…] My review of None So Blind is here […]
Wales Readathon 2019 – Book Jotter
[…] None So Blind (The Harry Probert-Lloyd Mysteries) by Alis Hawkins – Booker Talk […]
Judy Krueger
A good find! I like that it involves actual Welsh history.
BookerTalk
Me too. I am curious what the next one will focus on
FictionFan
This sounds great – one for my wishlist for sure! I’d never heard of the Rebecca Riots, although there were somewhat similar riots with women in the front-line in parts of Scotland at that time too, though I don’t think they became a powerful group like it sounds as if these did.
BookerTalk
Yes there was indeed a similarity with protests in Scotland. I never realised that the rioters were held in such fear in the communities where they were active