Sarah Hall’s novel 'Helm' takes an ambitious approach by narrating stories from the viewpoint of the only named wind in the British Isles. The northeasterly gale, known as Helm, blows down the slopes of Cross Fell in the Pennines and is famous for its unusual cloud formations and ability to dislodge roofs, haystacks, trees, and even riders from their horses.
A Wind’s-Eye View
Twenty years in the writing, 'Helm' presents a series of tales from the wind itself and from the people it has affected through the ages. Characters include a Neolithic tribeswoman and seer called NaNay, who is building a stone circle; an astrologer and exorcist referred to as a “wizard priest”; a Victorian meteorologist traveling across the Pennines by train and carriage into Helm’s “onslaught”; and a climatologist measuring microplastics in the atmosphere from her observation hut in the fells. Separated by centuries, their stories are woven together, bonded by weather.
Narration by Louise Brealey
The book’s vast scope, lyrical prose, and sharp shifts in style and tone present a challenge for any narrator. However, actor Louise Brealey, who has previously read two of Hall’s works—'The Wolf Border' and 'Burntcoat'—proves more than capable. She teases out its playful and poetic moments and revels in the flashes of coarseness. Hall describes Helm as a slippery, shapeshifting phenomenon hard to visualise and explain, but that doesn’t stop her from trying: “Imagine a skater launching off a quarter pipe two-thousand feet high, then somersaulting. Again. And again. And again.”
The audiobook runs 13 hours and 3 minutes and is available via Faber.
Further Listening
'Whistler' by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury, 10hr 43min) follows a fiftysomething English teacher who notices an older man following her around New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and eventually recognizes him as her former stepfather, Eddie. As they reconnect, old memories surface. Read by the author.
'London Falling' by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, 12hr 59min) blends true crime and social history as the 'Empire of Pain' author unravels the story of a troubled teenager’s death by falling from a building into the River Thames.
