forest

In the first novel, which takes place in Galicia during the retreat of the Russian army in 1915, the narrator tells of a tragedy that unfolds inside a triangle: John Trenchad – Maria – Semenov. The theme of spiritual love in the novel is promoted by the motive of white nights. It was during this period (on white nights) that John Trenchad met Mary.

In this dense novel, the house in which the Darke family exists apparently has its own impassive but claustrophobic influence on the family, which, in turn, tied itself up too quickly in its network of special hate agreements and connections. Jasper fights against his religion, Ruby is trapped between her need for conventions and her own desires, and Peter is forced to rebel.

The novel takes the reader to the very depths of rural England. The small village of Hintok, the scene of the novel, is so small that it’s even hard to find in the thicket of the forest, but this is where the tragedies of “truly Sophocles greatness” are played out. The reason for these tragedies is the clash of natural human characters preserved in the reserved wilderness of rural England.