Catherine Chanter

It started off well and hooked in me in to the story. The central characters, Ruth and Mark, were not terribly well fleshed out, we didn't really get told their ages nor had their appearances described, but the horrible situation they were experiencing was believable.

The author kind of dropped references to things into the story which were confusing, and only later in the book clarified. For example, the central couple has a daughter called Angie, but shortly after describing their wedding, when Ruth was pregnant, we are told that Mark can never father children. Only some time later, after I'd scrolled back many pages to see what I'd missed, did we get told that Ruth had become pregnant to another man who later died. We were not told whether Mark knew he was not the father of the baby at the time of their wedding.

The reason I kept reading was to find out what made The Well so special and how it had rain when all around was in drought. Instead the story descended into a torpid and drawn-out description of a mad cult and its insane antics. Ruth became quite unlikable and made some ridiculous decisions.

I'm annoyed at how much time I wasted on this book, which I read on my tablet and which had zero leading, meaning each line was directly on top of the next. And still the main premise of the book remains unexplained.

And for a country surrounded by sea, why could they not use desalination systems to create drinking water?… (more)

Beautiful book, it made me think about how vulnerable humans are, not just to their natural surroundings, but to actions and emotions of people around them. In the end, we all need something to believe in, something that gives our life purpose or someone who is there beside us in mind and body.

I love how the story gives you a bit information or story behind the actions of the characters. I found it hard to blame them and stopped pointing fingers after realizing that everything was an entangled mess of actions and justified reactions, from vicious cycles as well as external influences.

There is so much truth in this book, so many real life struggles, that the theme of the drought became my only reminder that this is a work of fiction.… (more)

The Well forces those of us who believe in miracles to closely examine the difference between the mysterious "coincidences" that often rescue us in times of need, from highly charismatic people who seem to be vehicles of miracles. Put another way, if we are Goddesses, why would we need another person to channel our goodness? The similarity that comes to mind is that of sending all of our money to some evangelical preacher. The author did a wonderful job of using the miraculous well, the only place producing water in all of England, to explore this theme.

The transformation of Ruth and Mark was done beautifully, although their dreams when they bought the property were not met as they imagined. "Mark grew stronger in direct correlation to my mental deterioration;..." Ruth's deterioration comes about for many reasons. The most interesting to me is her relationship to the highly charismatic Sister Amelia. But equally as interesting is how people, a community, react to good people who happen to be the "haves" in a "have not" time period. The viciousness is astounding but believable. Through some miracle, they have water and no one else does. They become pariah. We read with interest how this blessing stresses every relationship Ruth has.

The Well is a beautiful examination of the strength, frailties and mystery of individual character and human nature. It is also a study of intuition, living with the unknown and things that cannot be explained by science. It is well-written with many symbols, particularly around water and light.… (more)

This was almost an apocalypse novel (and how I love apocalypse novels!) with its scenario of a drought-stricken country in which water shortages are causing all sorts of chaos, except in a smallholding called 'The Well' which lives up to its name and has a plentiful supply. A story of marital breakdown, religious nutters and murder is played out against this backdrop, and an impressive degree of suspense is built up.

This book will appeal to readers who like a well-turned sentence. it's written in beautifully poetic prose and at times when I read slowly I appreciated this very much - it's atmospheric and has a very original feel - but at other times, like when I was racing to find out whodunnit, the dense, descriptive text was like creepers snaking around my feet, hindering my progress.

As with apocalypse novels, there is a sense of reading fiction that could easily become fact given a particular conjunction of events or conditions in the real world. I found myself wanting to know more about the situation outside the gates of The Well, but information is scant as almost all of the story takes place within its curtilage. I get that the outside world wasn't where the author was going with this story; her concerns were with the interplay between the characters living at the smallholding; it's just a personal preference thing.… (more)