Book Review: Seven Steeples

 

•  Author: Sara Baume

• Where I bought this book: Roebling Books, Covington, Ky. 

• Why I bought this book: I am always eagerly awaiting the next Sara Baume book 

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  This is a comforting book, a calming book. It's a very Irish book.

    Reading it makes you comfortable, wanting to sit back, take in a cuppa tea, and enjoy the view.

     And what a view it is. The writing is among the best you could find. Baume is a master of the art; her descriptions are moving, even lyrical. Her story-telling is poetic. And the story itself is grand -- a tale of a couple who move to a house on the coast of Ireland and live a life of recluse, austerity, and forbearance.

    The tale is not so much about what Sigh and Bell do, but what they don't do, and how they live: Within their means, within the land, within the sea. They are part of nature -- taking what they need, giving what they are able. They nourish the garden, but not very well. It also takes and gives what it can.

    The couple move in the house to be together. Both are introverts, borderline misanthropic. But they love each other and they bring along their dogs, Pip and Voss, to keep them company. Their life is simple and routine -- daily walks, trips to the store to buy supplies, visits to the sea for food and comfort.

    Their life carries on through the seven years of the story. Unhurried. Measured. 

    Time passes. 

    What is time? they ask, and they answer: It is to stop everything from happening at once. 

  

    Bell and Sigh accept nature and time, ignoring the daily meaningless concerns. As time passes, the house and the grounds erode as nature, the trees and animals and insects, take over. But the sea never changes. The nearby mountain never changes. Sigh and Bell become part of the scene, moving only with time.

The nights grew longer and they longed 

for a means of sleeping outside without the hassle of moving their second hand bed or inventing a new bed, of having to dismantle everything again as soon as it rained. In the end they only opened the window.

    Through it all, it is always Sigh and Bell, Bell and Sigh. Always together, preparing food, walking the dog, sitting in their garden. This is a story of love, and their love is neither showy nor demanding, but easy and true. They are inseparable.