The Country Under Heaven by Frederic S. Durbin

Book Review

Stephen Frame

Evocative. Eerie. Mythic. Down-right weird. I could say all these things, and more, about The Country Under Heaven. What I would say before all that, is it’s a great story, or perhaps stories is a better word. But first, what is it?

It’s set in the American west in the years after the civil war. It has eldritch happenings. It must be Western Gothic, right? Maybe. It has some flavour of that, but it gives much more. At its most basic, it is a tale of a wanderer, Ovid Vesper, former soldier, now plagued by strange visions and stalked by a spectral entity joined to him by the trauma of the battlefield. Ovid now travels the west, helping those in need, while seeking answers to his own troubles.

His story is told as a series of set-pieces chapters, each a stand-alone tale, linked by interludes, the whole work knitted together by Ovid’s quest. There is much that might be expected in a Western: cattle drives, shoot-outs, bushwhackers, and hidden gold. There’s an equal amount that isn’t: cannibals, monsters, ghosts, craithers (and isn’t that a glorious word?). While there is plenty of action to keep the pace moving, the story is a gentle piece at heart, reflective and thoughtful by turns. The depiction of the country Ovid travels through is a key part of the book, as much as character as any person, as is Ovid’s horse, Jack, who is as much part of this tapestry as the landscape is.

This is a book to lose yourself in. A book to be read slowly, to be set down for moments during reading, just simply to reflect on the power of the imagery it casts into the mind. And the dialogue. Oh, the dialogue. It’s worth reading for that alone. The voice in this book is as huge as the vistas the characters cross. How can you not love a story where people holler and ‘aim to do things’ and ‘allow that they might’? This is a story that’s told to the reader. There is a real sense the main character is reciting it to you. Perhaps around a campfire under the stars. Prepare to be drawn in.

One final point. There is a fair amount of dialogue in this book. There are no quotation marks anywhere. Not a single pair. It’s odd at first, but after the first few pages, it feels like it’s the way the story needs to be. Enjoy.