If God Will Spare My Life by Mike Lewis

 

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375 Pages

You can buy If God Will Spare My Life...Here

• The Blurb...

Pembrokeshire, West Wales 1904: Solicitor Arthur Nicholas seeks one William Batine James, heir to a Fishguard farm. He discovers James emigrated to Canada in 1871 and enlisted in the US Seventh Cavalry at Chicago, but the trail goes cold. Arthur knows 210 soldiers of the Seventh were massacred by thousands of Native Americans at Little Bighorn – Custer’s Last Stand – in 1876. Was James among them?
Based on true events, Mike Lewis’s debut novel reveals the lingering curse of a brutal schooling during the ‘Welsh Not’ era when children were punished for speaking their native tongue. As the unsuspecting Seventh head towards their Armageddon, James – plagued by dark forebodings and nightmares –reflects on his troubled past and lost love and ponders desertion after coming to realise he is as
much a fugitive as the Native Americans he is pursuing.

But the one thing a man can never escape is himself…

• My Review..

This is a book that it is difficult to pigeon hole (as can be seen by our "If you liked this you may like this" section!) It is definitely historical fiction, it's also and adventure story, an investigative story and has a smidgen of romance thrown in. It's a wonderful mixture that really works.

Mr Lewis has clearly used his experience and skills as a journalist in developing this narrative. As Sargent William Batine James of the US 7th  is inexorably heading towards the battle of Little Big Horn and General Custer's last stand, we see in flashback how he came to be there and how he came to be the man he was. This is told in the first person. Interspersed in this is the tale of apprentice solicitor Arthur Nicholas who is set the task of tracking down the aforementioned Will James some 30 odd years later for inheritance purposes. This is written in the third person. In addition we are shown several letters between Will James and other parties. This 3 prong approach works well as we do not become bogged down in one viewpoint (personal, historical or geographical)  yet the narrative flows well.

The author has created a vivid and rich picture of several locations and generations. I found this an enjoyable and comforting read. It really placed the reader in both 1870s USA and 1900s West Wales. I would look forward to getting a few chapters in at every opportunity. I have recently tried one of those 3D Virtual Reality PS5 headsets and this book had much the same effect of feeling as if I were actually there, albeit on a more subconscious and literary level. From the pastoral idyll of West Wales to the dusty Badlands of the American west, I found this book to be very immersive.

Looking at some other reviews I noted that some readers felt the practice of using language of the time to be distracting. Personally I found the opposite to be true. It landed straight back into the era every time I picked up where I had left off and really added to the flavour of the book.

It touches, lightly, on many points including, but not limited to the similarity in attitude to native Americans and Welsh people, sexual abuse and women's rights and this all helps to develop a more rounded account of the era.

Some other very interesting points in this book were that in the author's bio, at the back of the book, Mr Lewis states that the book is based on a true story and Will James did indeed emigrate from Pembrokeshire and was at the Battle of Little Big Horn as part of the famous 7th Cavalry, and this was what inspired him to write the novel. Thoughtfully, there is also a bibliography at the end of the book 

You end up routing for Will despite his rough points, and hoping beyond hope that he makes it out of the forthcoming military disaster. Does he do it? Guess you'll have to read the book!

• Selected Quotes...

"I found myself remembering those passages from Father’s book that had so gripped me as a child. Ahab, the sea captain had dragged the Pequod’s crew to their doom on his ill starred quest to find the great white whale. Would Custer, a fellow so clearly cut from the same cloth, in time lead us all to destruction on his own obsessive chase?"

"a soldier was a fellow too proud to beg, too dumb to steal and too lazy to work."

‘They took our land and made it their land,’

"Yet being soldiers we could feel something was coming in our bones. The same kind of feeling you get afore a prairie storm blows up. Fellows who talk much go real quiet and those who don’t normally say boo to a goose wont hold their tongues"

• If You Liked This You May Like...

Little Big Man by Thomas Burger

None So Blind by Alis Hawkins (click link for our review)

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty

Rape of the Fair Country by Alexander Cordell

• About the Author...

Mike Lewis hails from the former fishing village of Aberporth, West Wales, where his family have farmed for generations. Having joined a local newspaper straight from school, he proceeded to work as a writer and sub-editor on a number of national titles in London, including “The Guardian” and “The Daily and Sunday Telegraphs”. A lifelong rock and pop music fan, in the 1990s he coauthored biographies on Scott Walker and Syd Barrett, of Pink Floyd. Mike later worked as “The Sunday Telegraph” boxing correspondent, covering the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008. Having returned to his native West Wales to raise a family, and while working for the “Fishguard County Echo” he stumbled across the story of William James, the West Wales farmer’s son who emigrated to the United States and joined the Seventh Cavalry. Mike Lewis Mike subsequently found previously-undiscovered letters James had sent back to his younger brother from America which form the framework of If God Will Spare My Life... A father-of-five, married to Sue, Mike combines his writing career with helping to run Cardigan Amateur Boxing Club.