The Bass Rock can be seen from the Scottish mainland, and it is a common feature in the lives of the many women that pass under its shadow. Though the women featured are all from different times, they have one thing in common…the men that they interact with and the lack of power they are given.
Across the centuries we focus on three women in particular. There is Sarah, accused of witchcraft. There is Ruth, a young mother sent to an asylum because she dares to question her husband. And there is Viv, the daughter who comes to the home owned by her grandmother Ruth to clear it of possessions and prepare it for sale. Each of the women - and many of the peripheral female characters - are treated with disdain and contempt by the men in their lives. Their needs and desires are ignored, often punished, and this lack of respect is a thread running throughout the stories.
Initially the fractured way in which the stories are told was unsettling. Though lots happens to the individual characters it’s hard to say there’s a coherent story. While some of the characters appear to be included simply to highlight the point being made by the writer about men, there were aspects - and I’m thinking about the details we were given about Christopher and Martin at school - that suggest this a rather bleak outlook on humanity in general, showing how we are all defenceless without a network to support us.
I can’t honestly say this was a book I’d find easy to recommend. Aspects of the book made little sense to me - I’m thinking in particular of Viv’s befriending of the homeless Maggie - and much of it had a muddled cloying atmosphere to it (a bit like trying to make sense of a rather confusing dream) but I found myself caught up in the lives of the characters wishing.