Secrets in Prior’s Ford - Eve Houston

This is apparently the first book in a series of stories based around the sleepy small Scottish village of Prior's Ford. The quiet peace of the place is threatened here by the proposed re-opening of an old quarry, which splits the community. Some villagers think it will destroy the quiet peace of the small village, others think it will bring opportunities for employment and growth for the small businesses. No, it's not a metaphor for the state of the nation or the divisions caused by the war on terror - Secrets in Prior's Ford has no deeper purpose than an episode of Emmerdale, and a pretty tame one at that. 

The series promises "intrigue, passion and scandal" and there is certainly plenty of that here, but it's all played out very much in a harmless, inoffensive and gossipy manner - the wholesome model village is not exactly a hotbed of vice and corruption. Secrets there are, but they don't stay secrets long and are happily chatted about between friends or confided in with the vicar over tea and scones so that an amicable solution and accommodation can be reached without too much over-excitement. Even while fund-raising for their cause, the anti-quarry group even decide to organise a traditional village fayre, so that their opponents don't feel too left out.

Yep - village fayre's, garden parties, Easter Egg hunts - Prior's Ford is that kind of place and Secrets in Prior's Ford is that kind of novel. These are predictable, commonplace old-fashioned soap-opera style situations with bland, stock characters who never act the slightest bit like real people. The dialogue has all the contemporary naturalism of Enid Blyton with not a trace of a Scottish accent or idiom (the strongest the language gets is a single occurrence of "dratted") and everyone is a reasonable and well-adjusted individual. Even the local kids are polite, diligent, trustworthy and conscientious. Although certainly unchallenging and deeply reactionary (Prior's Ford will seem like pure heaven to readers of the Daily Mail), it's hard all the same not to get caught up in the simple lives and problems of Prior's Ford.

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