The Bellwether Revivals

June 4, 2012
This novel begins with the denouement: two people lie dead, and a third sits nearby, barely breathing. After this gripping opener, Wood slows downâway downâto lure readers into the lives of the Bellwethers, a wealthy English family, through Oscar Lowe, a caregiver at a nursing home who is drawn into a chapel by Eden Bellwether's brilliant musicianship. There he meets Eden's sister, Iris, a lovely cellist and student of medicine. He becomes part of the siblings' group of friends, occasional guest at the estate, and boyfriend to Iris. This is no class polemic, but rather an exploration of obsession, denial, and loyalty, explored through Iris's concern over the emotional stability of her brother, who believes that his music can heal. Though Oscar, and then Iris, both experience Eden's beliefs firsthand, Iris persuades Oscar to engage an authority on Narcissistic Personality Disorder, with the hope of diagnosing Eden. As Oscar becomes more involved, Iris's commitment falters, and Eden's erratic behaviorâparticularly his reaction to his parents' plan to sell the estate and move the family to Franceâforeshadows inevitable tragedy. Some readers will wish that Wood had written with more energy, but in building both Oscar's character and his story with restraint verging on the austere, he has created a highly engaging debut. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Company.

June 1, 2012
Eden Bellwether, an organ scholar at King's College, Cambridge, has the idea he can heal through the power of music, but Wood raises the possibility that Eden has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder and is thus suffering from delusions about his powers. The Bellwether family is characterized by both brilliance and eccentricity--and perhaps the two inevitably go together. Eden's sister Iris is a medical student at Cambridge and a fine musician in her own right, a cellist rather than an organist, and she bounces between unflappable adoration of her brother and suspicion that he might be a pathological case study. One autumn evening, Oscar Lowe, a nurse's assistant at a local nursing home, cuts across the King's College grounds and is attracted by the sonorous sound of an organ. On this fateful evening he meets Eden and Iris. Despite their differences Oscar and Iris feel an immediate, quirky attraction for one another, and they quickly become lovers. Oscar, though highly intelligent and well read, has found for himself a path other than academia, but he feels himself drawn in by the undeniable charisma of the Bellwethers. His favorite patient at the nursing home is Abraham "Bram" Paulsen, a former distinguished professor of English, whose friendship with Herbert Crest, a brilliant psychologist, leads to a complicated and volatile mixture of personalities and motives. When Iris breaks her leg, Eden seems to heal her through a bizarre regimen of physical and musical therapy. Crest becomes intrigued with Eden's putative powers, at least in part because the psychologist is dying of a malignant brain tumor, so his professional--and skeptical--motives become entangled with his personal ones, the latter characterized by Delusions of Hope, the book he's desperately trying to finish writing before his death. Wood moves the reader deftly through pastoral Cambridge, into the British upper crust, and ultimately into the mad mind of Eden himself.

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May 1, 2012

Set in the English university town of Cambridge, Wood's debut novel explores issues of hope, obsession, and mental illness. Caregiver Oscar Lowe finds himself entangled in the privileged lives of the Bellwether family, particularly medical student Iris and her brother Eden. Eden is a gifted musician with delusions of grandeur who believes he can heal through the hypnotic power of his music. When Eden tries to cure a man suffering from a stage-four brain tumor, however, his fantasies may have gone too far. Oscar, desperately in love with Iris, can only stand by helplessly as Eden spirals toward disaster. Wood's brief prelude is actually the denouement, with the remainder of the book serving as an extended flashback. This means the reader knows from the start that the story can only end badly, which removes much of the suspense. The Oxbridge setting is clearly drawn, but only Oscar is a fully realized character. VERDICT Despite these flaws, fans of modern British academic novels with a dash of psychological drama might enjoy this title.--Laurel Bliss, San Diego State Univ. Lib.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2012
Opening on a scene of death and devastation, this absorbing novel traces the preceding months as 20-year-old Oscar Lowe, a care assistant at Cedarbrook nursing home, is absorbed into the flock, a small coterie of Cambridge students formed around supremely gifted organist Eden Bellwether. As Oscar falls in love with Eden's younger sister, Iris, a medical student, she enlists him to help prove that her brother is mentally ill. Eden, the son of a surgeon, believes that his hypnotism and musical therapy can cure physical ills, a thesis he tests on Iris' broken femur and psychologist Herbert Crest's brain tumor. Crest, author of an article on music therapy that Eden displays and cites, also has a longtime connection to the retired eminent literature professor who is Oscar's favorite patient at Cedarbrook. Issues of class and town-and-gown are touched on, for Oscar is all too aware of the Bellwether family wealth yet professes to be happy with his job even as others urge him to aspire higher. But this first novel is most notable for its acute characterizations and flowing prose that engrosses the reader as initial foreboding fades only to grow again. Wood is definitely a writer to watch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)