The Short Day Dying

Written by Peter Hobbs

208 Pages

Published by Harvest Books

Review by Paula Day

Receives:

Peter Hobbs’ 2006 debut novel is haunting and beautiful. In the simple descriptive prose of his humble protagonist, Charles Wenmoth, Hobbs paints a picture of rural life in 1870 England where there is great poverty of both pocket and spirit. Charles, as he works by day as an apprentice blacksmith and also as a lay preacher, mourns the empty churches and the deaths from illness and accident that plague his world. There is a saying in writing “Show me, don’t tell me,” and though this novel is primarily telling—there is not much in the way of plot here—Charles’s internal struggles with loneliness, grief, and loss are fascintating enough to make this an engrossing novel. Charles has a determination to live a life of duty. He wants to feel as though he has made a contribution somewhere despite his spiritual doubts. The narration of this novel is honest and touching as Peter Hobbs captures Charles’s voice in a sparse yet poetic prose that captures the era and the humility of this ordinary man with extraordinary observations. ______________________________________________________________

Paula Day is the review editor for The Copperfield Review. She lives in Los Angeles.