Echoes of the Past by Evelyn Hood

 

"Bethany was happiest, on board the Fidelty. Like her father and her elder brother she was a child of the sea, treating it with respect but without fear."

Echoes of the Past by Evelyn Hood is a compelling generational saga set in Scotland in 1912.

Echoes of the Past

Can a family thrive after the death of a domineering patriarch?

Buckie, Scotland 1912

One year after Weem Lowrie's death, his wife Jess and children are still living in his shadow, bount by the strict decisions he imposed when he was alive.

Eldest son James and his sister Bethany are trapped in marriages arranged to bolster the value of the family's fishing business. Youngest son, Innes, struggles with the memory of his father's disapproval over his failure to become a fisherman.

James longs to take over as skipper of the family fishing boat, The Fidelity, rather than working for his uncle. Bethany dreams of escaping from her role as a wife and stepmother to two young children and Innes longs for acceptance and respect from his siblings and to be seen as a man. But pursuing these aims only seems to invite new conflict into their lives.

And when Jess's childhood sweetheart returns to Buckie, his attempts to help the family using his wealth and influence seem destined to cause even more chaos.

Storytelling at its best, Evelyn Hood is the original bestselling Scottish saga writer.

Previously published as The Shimmer of the Herring.

The Lowrie family has lived in Buckie for generations. It's a hard way of making a living. Fishing is a men's job, and women are discouraged to even dream about being at sea. 

Bethany longs to sail, however, women are considered to bring bad luck at sea. She is strong, efficient and smart, but it's her older brother James who inherits the family business after their father's passing.

Weem Lowry died a year earlier, and even now his demise hasn't changed the tyrannical decisions he has imposed on his family.

His gravestone carries an inscription, "William James Lowrie, fisherman of the parish Buckie, born 1870, died 21 July, beloved husband of Jess Innes and father of James, Bethany and Innes."

Yet this beloved father ruled his family as a dictatorship. He has forced both of his older children into unwanted relationships because the newly-forged connections propelled him closer to his dream of owning a steam boat. 

Bethany resents being married to a man she doesn't love, and looking after his two small children. She yearns freedom, and cannot forgive her father, who she loved deeply as a child.

"She would have to relinquish something - either the deep love she'd had for the man from her earliest days, or the bitter rage born of knowing that he had used her love and trust to further his own interests, trapping her in the process with a man who meant nothing to her... she must resign herserlf to becoming what Weem had made of her: a wife and mother with no other identity. And she could not do that." 

Weem's decision feels like a betrayal. 

James has a certain degree of freedom, as he does a job he loves. Yet he wants more. He doesn't like to work for his uncle, whose decisions are constrictive.  

"Like his father and sister, James loved the sea more than anything else. He loved its contrary moods - the worst of them as well as the best."

James feels tied to a wife in an unloving relationship. Poor Stella adores him, and he treats her with indifference and even scorn. She seems a failure in his eyes, as she gives birth to three daughters. 

And there is the younger son, Innes, scarred by the contempt and derision bestown on him by his own father, because Innes chooses to work on land rather than become a fisherman. In Weem's eyes, this is an unpardonable sin.

Weem's oppressive legacy keeps hurting his children even after his death. His meek wife Jess hasn't dared to oppose his decisions. The only time she has revolted was to protect her youngest, "she had made sure that Weem - who had loved his children so deeply when they were small, and had used them with such a lack of understanding once they reached adulthood - had not managed to destroy Innes the way he'd destroyed James and Bethany."

Jess can see the difference between her children, their strength and weaknesses.

"Innes had been a loving and giving soul from the moment of his birth, whereas James and Bethany had both shrugged off embraces from an early age."

Will Bethany, James and Innes be ever free from the brutal bonds foisted by their father?

The society of the fishing village is based on patriarachal rules of obeying your parents. The parochial mindset is suffocating, with its petty squabbles and watching your neighbours with a critical eye.  

Life by the sea is portrayed unflinchingly. The back-breaking work of women is described with sympathy and compassion. Once men bring in the fish, women are waiting on the shore to start gutting, salting and packing in barrels. Their lives are hard, but there is dignity and pride in what they are doing.

The background of the fishing village is well-researched and authentic.

I wasn't sure about one of the spicy plotlines, as it didn't feel convincing.

Echoes of the Past is an unsentimental portrayal of the past, a finely crafted tale of tragedy and deception, loss and forbidden love.

Potential triggers: incest.

Purchase Link -

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Author Bio –

The Sunday Times bestselling author of 28 published novels, Evelyn Hood had a variety of jobs, including being a journalist and a poultry farmer. She was a full time writer, best known for her family sagas, set mainly in her home town of Paisley (Renfrewshire) and on the Clyde coast, where she also lived.

 

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