Its strips away such complexities and takes you back to finding friendships in the most unlikely places. I got into the book thinking it would be in the third person limited, narrated through the character of Hamish, and the first few chapters seem to encourage the reader to believe that.

The Briarmen | The StoryGraph Reviews - The Briarmen | The StoryGraph

Reviews on Goodreads note the ‘magic’ and ‘charm’ of the characters, backed by ‘seamless’, ‘wistful’ and ‘wholesome’ writing. The novel feels quite unique in the sense that on one side we have this very classical-feeling story set in WW2 where we see the struggles of Britain during that worrying period. Within a few months it had firmly become my favourite subject, so I dropped film and picked up as many Creative Writing classes as possible.

The easiness of the narrative doesn't feel inappropriate, despite the difficult themes, and I think this is probably why the book was so easy to read. I really think this book would have benefitted from a harsher editor - the writing is very clunky and sentences are meandering. Although they are magical creatures, they each had distinct personalities that allowed you to tell them apart. This was such a nostalgic read and is definitely a book that I would have picked up and appreciated both now and 20 years ago. Everything is delivered and portrayed in an elegant fashion, helping the story to develop at a natural and comfortable pace, allowing you to get lost within the story and drawing you in as if you were really there alongside the characters.

The Briarmen by Joseph A. Chadwick – lady of booklott The Briarmen by Joseph A. Chadwick – lady of booklott

Their thoughts about war and humanity are brought up by the Briarmen, in their observations about the 'menfolk' and their ways, and it's beautiful to see the characters work towards shared humanity in such a divisive period of history.The synopsis and cover of The Briarmen sounded really appealing to me and very intriguing and the opening chapters instantly drew me into the story. I loved how the relationships and their dynamics changed throughout the book without getting stagnant.