Goody was a very interesting and often surprising character. Her dramatic beginning in some way or other shaped her for her whole life. Despite being raised as a lady with as much comfort and education as her foster family could muster, she never was one. Always wild, she didn’t care very much about the pressure of social life and it’s rules. She was never certain as to whether she was man or woman, she lived her life as both and neither. I think that was one of the things I liked the most about her: she was living her life the way she wanted it to be. And at the same time, she went through so much at such a young age. The way she was portrayed gave me an inside as to what emotions she felt and through this she felt much more close to me.

I read Winchelsea with a bit of trepidation. I like historical fiction but often find some times or places a bit more difficult to read. I don’t know why this is but its my thing, okay? I am glad that I read Winchelsea though because it is damn good.It is the story of Goody Brown and the corrupt world that she lives in. Throughout the story you are presented with trials and tribulations far beyond your ken that you really do feel like you have been invited into another world. It starts off being told from Goody's perspective and I will say the first 30% is fairly gripping. You are right into the action for sure but once 'revenge' for the Father's murder has been delivered the next middle section of the book feels overly long and winding. I really struggled to get through it because there didn't feel like anything much to keep me reading but eventually it livens up again only to then experience reading whiplash when suddenly at 75% of the way through book it is suddenly being told from another characters point of view and worst of all a character we have never encountered before. Goody's experiences, thoughts, etc are gone. We have no idea what she is thinking any more and I found myself not caring

Goody was a reasonably consistent character and we had a couple of well thought out supporting cast members. Winchelsea” is as much a book about the characters in it, as about the land they were living on. I very much liked that the author has put so much effort into painting not just where this book was placed, but also its history. And have done so without ever abandoning Goody or any other characters that were telling her story. It was rather done THROUGH her and what she’s done.What I found most jarring was the abrupt end of Part 1, followed by Parts 2 and 3 - the pacing up to the end of Part 1 and after was just off for me and felt like an afterthought. I truly felt like the ending of Part 1 could have been the end of the novel. Parts 2 and 3 felt a little rushed, condensed and like there could have been enough material for at least one more book if explored in greater detail. What holds the novel together as much as its driving plot are its incantatory atmosphere and spellbinding language. Nights are noisy with owls and fieldfares, “their lonely twits falling down through the dark”, while meaning oozes via sound and rhythm from antique vocabulary such as “fallalery” and “yelloching”. The letter from Goody at the beginning says that her true narrative, through the different lenses of the text has turned into something of a novel. I found this destabilising to the text immediately as she talks about ‘the novel’ with the certainties of a modern writer, where the term was still a disputed and nebulous term in 1779 when she is writing. She also makes the point that most of the narrative was told by her to a man and so warns the reader that the book may sound like a man writing as a woman more than the real lived experience of a woman. This caveat seems to have no meaning or purpose within the world of the book but instead refers to the fact the (twenty-first century) novel is in fact written by a man and making excuses for the fact it sounds like a man writing a woman. This is still further complicated by the fact that Goody does in fact live as a man for a large section of the book which sort of makes her a pseudo-male narrator anyway. Then we switch to another narrator for the ending portion.. At least this was a character we are familiar with from fairly early on in the book but suddenly it feels like now the book is about him and no longer really about Goody at all. I didn’t find the writing particularly engaging, the author throws in long antiquated words every so often as if to show off their intelligence, but it isn’t in keeping with the characters portrayed and just seemed pompous. It goes off on tangents about the Jacobite’s and the king over the water, that felt like they belonged to another book he wants to write, not part of this one, in fact he hints at further stories at one point, sigh. The original focus of the book is lost, and rushed at the end. In fact throughout its all over the place, unfinished threads, stories that start then go nowhere. Characters changing their character without explanation, I could go on. Did not satisfy this reader in any way, in fact I think I’d do a better job myself!

Given Alex Preston named his fifth novel after a small town nestled on the Sussex coast, it is unsurprising that the power of place is integral. Sweeping vistas of imperious dunes, thunderous waves and atmospheric renderings of landscapes “fringed by fernbrake and hawthorn” are offered throughout Winchelsea. But, most pertinently, so are insights of what lies beneath the town’s surface.

In regards to censoring this book, which has been suggested (for adults only) I am adamantly opposed. I find this especially abhorrent for the reasons given of same sex coupling and incest. Was it really incest then or now…there is no easy answer to this, which was surely excellent plotting and writing by this articulate and clever author. It made be think, which is a gift from any story. In a plot which moves at an impressively athletic clip, Goody becomes bandit, lover, leader, revolutionary. With commanding descriptive powers, Preston draws us through Goody’s ever-changing 18th-century world, each tableau thrumming with vitality. The main character of Goody was enthralling to read about through her character journey and transformations. She is quite flawed and rebellious and takes part in many questionable deeds and adventures but you cannot help but love her.