SPIKE MAGAZINE

Katrina Gulliver

The Clearing – Tim Gautreaux

See all books by Tim Gautreaux at
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In 1923, Byron Aldridge is working as the constable at a mill in Louisiana. Nimbus, the mill settlement, is somewhere in the bayou – miles from the nearest town and inches from the nearest alligator.

Byron, the son of a rich Pittsburgh family, is embittered by his experiences on the Western Front and has spent the years since the war running from the future his father had planned for him. He has drifted into this post, charged with policing the boozing, brawling, and gambling of the mill workers.

Tim Gautreaux, a Louisiana Frenchman, tells this curious story with such unrelenting detail you can almost feel the heat. He also has a touch for a vivid phrase: "He fell out of step to avoid a mule dropping, and the pile moved, uncoiling toward the canal". The atmosphere of humidity and bugs is continually reinforced. Local events are shaped by outside influences — the arrival of the telephone line, prohibition, men’s experiences in the war. This is made more striking by the insularity of the region — shockwaves from the war in Europe have rippled a long way, only to meet the still-present scars of the Civil War.

After they find out where he is working, Byron’s family purchases the mill and his brother Randolph heads to Nimbus, planning to convince Byron to return home. However, Randolph also settles in to life at the mill, and enjoys the differences from his genteel Northern background. Sending Byron home becomes less important as Randolph sees a chance to prove himself.

The mill itself is profitable, but the mill workers live in a world of poverty and violence. The one saloon at the mill, selling bootleg liquor and taking the rest of the workers’ money at the poker table, becomes the centre of a spiral of violence and intrigue.

With themes that are often brutal, this book has a strange elegance. Although Byron and Randolph are the main characters, we get detailed digressions into the experiences of those around them. I have rarely read a book where so many people are realistically portrayed. The layers of different characters’ beliefs and motives are what make this story truly involving.

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