Undercurrent by playwright and author Barney Norris is a novel that, if it catches you at the wrong time, you might dismiss as ordinary, but if you read it at the right moment or in the right mood, it will stop you in your tracks.

I had been thinking of Richard Linklater's film Boyhood recently, and Linklater actually gets a mention in the book. You feel that Norris has drawn inspiration from the renowned director and has written a novel that captures the essence and feeling of a Linklater film.

Deceptively simple prose with beautiful observations, this is a novel about the passing of time, and what happens to us in the quiet moments. It's about how we are changed by the big events - the break up of a relationship, the death of a parent, the meeting of a life partner.

Ed is in the dying days of a long term relationship when he meets Amy at a wedding. She's the photographer and she recognises him as the person who saved her from drowning a a child. What appears on the surface to be a simple meeting of two people whose paths have previously intersected, marks a crossroads in Ed's life as he begins to question where he is and what he wants from life.

Interspersed with Ed's first person narrative, are chapters set in the past about generations of Ed's family through the 20th Century. This should be jarring but somehow it is not - the reader is transported effortlessly through time, feeling the fragility of life and inexorable shift towards its end. If this sounds depressing, it isn't! I found it pretty life-affirming. 4/5 stars

"The ebb of one part of life turning into the past is what always seems to give birth to the future, so that every decision ends up being a reaction to something, not a thing in itself; every new choice is born of a kind of grief."

I am a great admirer of Norris' first book Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain and while I'm not sure that this book quite lives up to that it was an intriguing read.

The characters weren't entirely likeable but the gentle themes all came together to pack a powerful punch, with the topics of caring and bereavement handled beautifully.

I loved this book. It was at times uncomfortably relatable - heartbreaking but hopeful and so deeply compassionate about ordinary people lost in life. Remarkable.

I enjoyed the writing style very much. It has made me want to read more from this author. This book was full of emotion and was very moving. I also enjoyed the wonderful descriptions of different landscapes; over all it was a very enjoyable read.

Having loved Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain I was keen to check out the author's latest offering. Undercurrent is a novel about relationships (romantic and familial), home, love and loss. Parts of the novel were quietly impressive, but I couldn't quite cast aside my dislike for Ed and for how he treats his girlfriend in the early parts of the novel (petty, I know). Norris is one to watch for sure, and his prose really shines at times.

Themes of death and loss, and the importance of home, are central in Barney Norris's new novel. He is an exceptionally gifted writer, and the lyricism of his writing is sometimes simply wonderful to read. In a relatively short novel, Ed and his family's history packs a punch. Moving and thought-provoking. 4 stars for sure.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

This was a pleasant enough read but essentially a rather ordinary one, and I didn’t feel it offered anything particularly new or original. In fact at times it descended into the banal. At its heart is the narrator Ed, a young man at a crossroads in his personal life, who is trying to come to terms with his family’s past and to search for meaning in the present whilst he attempts to forge a future for himself. It’s well-written and well-paced, with a well-timed reveal of events from the past and the complex relationships and challenges that result. It’s an introspective novel, one that reflects and meditates on love and family, duty and freedom, grief and hope. Nothing really wrong with any of it, but I simply didn’t connect with any of the characters, nor was I particularly interested in them.

A few years ago I read Turning for Home by Barney Norris and thought it was a moving book with emotional depth. Undercurrent has very much the same tone, plumbing the same depth of emotion, as he tells the story of a family’s grief and loss as well as love. the central theme is the pull of home, that sense of belonging, of attachment to a place, and how our past has shaped our lives. Alongside this there is the desire for a new life, and new experiences. It is beautifully written.

The main story centres around Ed and his immediate family, but the narrative includes the stories of his grandparents and great grandparents. He had a troubled childhood, living on a farm in Wales with his mother, stepfather and stepsister, Rachel. His mother wants him and Rachel to take over the farm when she dies, but neither of them want to, which leaves Ed feeling guilty and frustrated. But when his mother becomes seriously ill and dies he has to make a decision.

It’s also the story of his grandparents and great grandparents, beginning in 1911 in India when Arthur, an Englishman met and later married Phoebe a young Indian teenager. When the First World War broke out they moved to England and Arthur enlisted in the navy. She never got over leaving India and sank into depression and melancholy. Their son, Leo, was greatly affected by his mother’s mental illness and caring for her and the farm became too much for him, resulting in tragedy. The women in the family followed the same pattern as Phoebe – following the men, their lives changing for better or worse.

I don’t feel I have done justice to this novel, finding it quite difficult to review. It’s a quiet thoughtful book that explores the nature of our relationships, emotions and how our lives are affected by our family history.

3.5 stars

Ed saved Amy from drowning when they were both children and now, in their thirties, they meet again.

This was a rather quiet book where, simultaneously, not a lot happens but a lot happens. I have to say though that I didn't feel particularly invested in any of the characters; I felt held at a slight distance.

Barney Norris is a writer who can plumb the depths of emotion with everything he writes. In this, his fourth novel, he deals with the heart of a family as he comes to terms with loss and grief as well as love.

Told in past and present (pre Covid) timelines we learn about Ed's troubled childhood which follows him into adulthood with the separation of his parents and a life led on the family farm in Wales with his mother, stepfather and half sister. One memorable event of his childhood is when he rescues Amy, a young girl from drowning and meets her again at a wedding many years later in his thirties while he is trying to come to terms with the grief of his mother's recent death and having to make decisions what to do with the farm that his mother wants to remain in the family.

Ed rightly dominates the narrative as we are taken through his life and family history, how he copes as he soul searches how to live his life. It is beautifully written with wonderful immersive descriptions that can only move even the most hardened reader's heart. Undercurrent deserves to win prizes. Many thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The book’s description here on goodreads is only a small part of what this novel is really about and feel it doesn’t do it enough justice. Maybe I’m reading it the wrong way though, I don’t know. To me it’s more than just about love. It’s about family, grief, home and belonging as well, and it really got to me. I did however have some trouble with the vignettes. They support the themes, but I could have done without them. IMO they got too much in the way of the main 2019 story line.
Thank you Doubleday and Netgalley UK for the ARC.

A meditative short novel that deals with family expectations, life choices and memories.
The main narrative is set in 2019 and prior, where Ed, the narrator, muses on his life and childhood, centred around a farm owned for generations. Neither he or his step-sister, Rachel, want to take it on which causes guilt, family frustration and the resurgence of memories tied to the place.
Interweaved amongst these chapters are others about his great-grandparents, grandparents and parents.
It has similar themes to Bad Relations by Cressida Connelly which I read earlier this year but Barney Norris includes a sense of poetic philosophy and introspection that makes the story more poignant and empathetic.

This is the story of three generations who raise their families on a sheep farm in the UK. Our protagonist is the youngest member of the family, Ed, who reconnects with Amy, a girl he saved from drowning when they were children. Without sharing any spoilers, this book contains a lot of death, near-death experiences, and grief. It's a sad read, for sure. Norris is a beautiful writer and has a special way of describing life (especially farm life) that's so real and so raw. I'm glad I finally read one of his novels; it won't be my last.

This is the fourth novel from the award winning playwright Barney Norris.

I have read his debut novel “Five Rivers Meet on a Wooden Plain” and second novel “Turning for Home” (which incidentally could have made an alternate title for this novel) and found both very strong novels (the second particularly) from an author I consider very underrated. Melissa Harrison in her Guardian review of his debut novel finished her review with a sentence that I think sums up what I really like in his writing and what I think probably counts against him in a literary world which often seems to mistake misanthropic or transgressive writing for quality.

"There are different kinds of good writing. Technical skill – good prosody, pace, description and so on – counts for a lot, as does the ability to tell a story well. But there is another quality I look for, and it can’t be learned at writing classes. It shines out when characters are granted their complexity and handled with empathy and compassion, and it comes, I think, from being a decent human being. Judging by this tolerant and insightful debut, Norris has it in spades"

This novel has at its heart a first party narrator Ed, writing in 2019 (just pre COVID although certain scenes in the novel will I think have difficult resonances for many after the many private tragedies of the last few years). At the age of 10 Ed (largely accidentally) rescued a younger girl from drowning and years later a chance encounter leads them into a relationship. Ed is though still haunted from another formative, earlier and only just remembered childhood event – when his parents split and his mother moved out of the remote Sussex hunting lodge in which Ed lived with his two parents, and instead moved to her family’s remote sheep farm in Wales.

Later Ed nurses his dying and estranged now alcoholic father before his death – leading to something of a breach with his Mum (and her new partner), one exacerbated by Ed (and his stepsister’s) clear reluctance to take on the farm (which has up until now been passed down through generations of the family who have struggled to make it viable). As Ed and his partner start their tentative but growing relationship, Ed takes the opportunity to reset the relationship with his mother, but difficult events cause him further pain and cause him to revisit his past but also to balance its weight and pull against the potential of the present (and future).

The structure of the novel mirrors this tension in two ways.

The 2019 sections are written in a present tense, but contain extensive reflections on Ed’s past and particularly his memories of his father, and his grandparents and his complex relationship with his mother.

And interleaved with these sections are a series of vignettes from his family history – going back to his great grandfather, who as an Army officer immediately pre World War I marries Ed’s great grandmother (a very young Indian Christian) only to bring her back to London when war breaks out (an unexpected breach with her homeland from which she never recovers settling into melancholy and eventually mental illness, which in turn affects her son (Ed’s mother’s father) who has to shoulder the burden (and irresistible current) of caring for both his mother’s health and the struggling farm, a burden that proves too much for him.

And alongside the idea of the past/future is a recurring theme of the draw of home (be that Sussex, Wales or India) – including a generational change from those who stayed in the countryside, to those who gradually migrated to the City, to those who now live in the City but visit the countryside for holidays (and to gain some kind of connection with a lost past). This haunting of home standing alongside the draw of the past.

Other recurring ideas include the (more recent and in my view sub-optimal) music of Radiohead; the titular idea of currents and undercurrents (literal and figurative) – perhaps fitting with the idea of (lack of) control over life’s circumstances and events; inheritance – often unwelcome (again both literal and figurative) “life was a series of inheritances taken away from you one by one, or given to you when you least wanted them, and there was no sense of controlling any part of it”.

Two aspects I suspect that will I discover more about closer to publication: the author writes novels and plays in a slightly linked universe (but I was not able to find many links); the author in 2021-2022 seems to be embarking on much more autobiographical novels and, other than a linked Sussex hunting lodge and a one-time fractured skull, I was not aware of any strong links between Ed and the author.

Overall this is another beautiful novel from an author who deserves much greater recognition. If a novel is at heart an empathy machine then Norris is a hugely skilled machine operator.

I enjoyed this.
It’s about Ed and family history. In particular the emotional history of family. How times, circumstance, environment might change, but we all question and doubt ourselves. How our choices impact ourselves, our family and friends. Finding a balance between seeking our own happiness and how our decisions affect the lives and happiness of others. How choices are hard. How life is hard.
Suicides, sickness, death, grief… it’s all here.
But there is also, kindness, love, understanding and hope.
The language is simple and insightful. The analysis of emotional character is often raw and brutally honest.
Books like this remind me how life’s challenges, big and small, have an impact on all of us. Well worth reading.

Barney Norris writes lyrically about nature and landscape, as in his previous novels - this time set against the backdrop of farm life and its hardships. Through the internal musings of his characters, revelations gradually emerge about their past lives and family backgrounds, their memories and stories often re-written, to interpret the secret undercurrents that underpin our view of world events. Highly recommended.

3.5 stats


For me a tricky one to review.
It sometimes said a lot, and sometimes I felt it was saying nothing at all.
And that's what I liked about it, it's like real life.
I enjoyed the character of Ed who seemed to quite deep and meaningful about a lot of things.

Sometimes the story just moved a tad slowly, and sometimes I stopped to think about what had actually just been said.


As I stated, a tricky one to review.
But my overall thoughts are positive.

Years ago, in an almost accidental moment of heroism, Ed saved Amy from drowning. Now, in his thirties, he finds himself adrift. He's been living in London for years - some of them good - but he's stuck in a relationship he can't move forward, has a job that just pays the bills, and can't shake the sense that life should mean more than this. Perhaps all Ed needs is a moment to pause. To exhale and start anew. And when he meets Amy again by chance, it seems that happiness might not be so far out of reach. But then tragedy overtakes him, and Ed must decide whether to let history and duty define his life, or whether he should push against the tide and write his own story.
This book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed.

This is just the kind of book I LOVE! Don't get me wrong, I love police procedurals, I love books about missing people, I love serial killers, terrorist attacks and presidential assassinations but books like this just do it for me more than all that.

This is one of those books where, if you were asked to explain it to a friend, they would look at you like "is that it?". It certainly won't be made into a Hollywood blockbuster or a Netflix limited series.

Here we follow the story of Ed who is in a relationship with Juliet at the start of the novel, however at a wedding he reconnects with Amy - a girl he saved from drowning when they were children. His connection with Amy after all these years highlights what is missing in his relationship with Juliet and he quickly breaks it off with her and begins a relationship with Amy instead. I don't want to go to much further in terms of story however, this isn't about what happens next but instead is an exploration of real, human relationships and what is missing from them, why we stay and we eventually choose to go.

I know this book won't be for everyone but it was definitely for me. Barney Norris is one of those authors, much like Anne Tyler, who can make the mundane, beautiful.

In this story we follow a few years of change in a young man’s life, specifically his relationships with his family and his girlfriends as they evolve. We also have short third person narrated sections filling in some of the family history, some sad events that shaped their lives for generations and underline the significance of the family farm in the minds of the current generations. In his acknowledgements, the author mentions borrowing from his family to tell this story, and it does have an autobiographical feel to it, leaving me wondering how much of it is imagined and how much not.

Barney Norris writes emotion so well. His character Ed is a profoundly thoughtful man, intense in his analysis of his own feelings every step of the way, sometimes almost too much, but always interesting.

‘Strange to search for a new place in the midst of grief, and feeling distracted while trying to make what ought to be one of the most important decisions, and completely unable to focus. But this is how life always seems to happen to me. The future can never just be created on its own. The ebb of one part of life turning into the past is what always seems to give birth to the future, so that every decision ends up being a reaction to something, not a thing in itself; every new choice is born of a kind of grief.’

Some lovely descriptions of the landscape, too, which always please me - ranging from the Welsh hills to the Cornish coast and to the city of London.

A dense book which, despite being relatively short on pages, took me an inordinate amount of time to read. Well worth the effort.