The Wind Tamer

Archie Stringweed is just ten and a mollycoddled boy whose father, Jeffrey, is very nice but a man who is so anxious that despite collecting travel brochures, he has never dared to venture abroad. The Springweed family motto is ‘Semper fortitudo’ but Springweed males – Archie’s father and grandfather – seem pretty weedy. Is this to be Archie’s fate too?

Life changes dramatically when Jeffrey’s long lost younger brother appears. Uncle Rufus has travelled round the world and he talks encouragingly to Archie about ten being the age of adventure. But Cecille, Archie’s mother, seems to mistrust Uncle Rufus. And why were Archie’s birthday presents from Uncle Rufus always hidden from him? Meanwhile, mysterious gusts of wind penetrate the Stringweed family home, ‘Windy Edge’, and tell Archie that something is coming. The something appears to be of a menacing kind.

Morrison creates a convincing family life for the Stringweeds in their house near the top of a hill in a small Scottish fishing village. There is lots of cosy domestic detail – the floorboard that creaks, the coal fire that needs raking, the snow that must be cleared from the path, the kitchen table covered with clutter. The fantasy elements of the story – the approaching tornado, the icegulls who are on Archie’s side as he fights what turns out to be a family curse with Uncle Rufus’s help, are overloaded and not so convincing. As a metaphor for Archie’s need to find the strength with which to make his mark on the world, and the difficulty of doing so with a father who is uncertain about his own potency, the story breaks new ground. An ambitious and original first novel which promises well for Morrison’s future work.