The Saffron Eaters

by N.R. Phillips

Book by Phillips, N. R.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jacca]

I really liked this. It's a very dialect and locals piece, weaving a story of friendships and community around a love affair with the resonant backdrop of a changing world. It's a uniquely interesting insight into a St. Ives that has changed so much in the 60 years since its setting and quite depressing to read the beginnings of a transformation that has in such a short time been so much as to all but completely destroy the place of the beginning of this book.
The writing can often be really beautiful, in my opinion, with a poetic eye that comes poignantly if a little obtusely.
Steve's love affair as a metaphor for the complexity of feeling over the entry of 'others'/'foreigners'/'aliens' and its conclusion were, to me, riveting.

Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see our disgrace!
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
We must pay for the water we drink;
the wood we get must be bought.
Our pursuers are at our necks;
we are weary; we are given no rest.

[LOUISE FIELDER]

This book is about the inhabitants of a little fishing village in south England, where the rich Celtic language and traditions of the Cornish people are rigidly observed.
The scenery is beautifully described and the characters interesting and humorous.
Five lads, grown up together, know this village as a poor, quiet, loyal community who treat any outsiders as 'foreigners'. But after high school they all take their own paths and as their lives change so does the village they so strongly want to defend.
This is the story of their lives, loves, ambitions and their failures.
All within a communuity of growing hotels, holidaymakers, and real estate booms.
The emotions of the inhabitants are turned upside down and nearly destroyed by this influx of newcomers who try and invade their society.

[Liam]

‘Tis a bleddy good yarn!

[Gus Williams]

It’s a while ago but I remember enjoying this book thoroughly.

[Rhiannon Grant]

This book has some small points of interest. If you think that's not much of a compliment, you're right, but it's the best I can do while giving my honest opinions of this novel which I found mostly a bit frustrating. I enjoyed some of the use of dialect, especially the nuanced attention to code-switching, and the reflections on how a small village changes over time. However, I found most of the characters unappealing, partly because the plot punishes anyone who shows any sign of agency, and the plot itself irritating. It combines two great tropes of literature: boy meets girl, boy meets another girl, everyone is opposed by the societal assumption of monogamy with a side order of sexism, tragedy ensues; and boy meets girl, boy meets another girl, boy experiences Soulcrushing Moral Dilemma (TM), boy fails to notice that girls are fully rounded people and not objects to be chosen or rejected, tragedy ensues. At times the narration seems to be trying to subvert the second one, and I had moments of hope that one or more of the women might be allowed to become fully rounded people, but in the end action and decision making rests only with the men. If you like that sort of thing, I imagine this is a great book - it's certainly well-written at the level of language. All the sentences and most of the paragraphs are fine, I just couldn't find anything to like in the story.

[dennis Waters]

I am sorry but I thought the book was not very good. The storyline was about an affair but not very well done. No real storyline about beautiful Cornwall so I won’t be recommending this one and off to the charity shop for the next unlucky person to pick it up.