There is a moment, about three-quarters of the way through Carys Davies’s third novel, Clear, so simultaneously startling and pleasing that I put the book down in delight. In trepidation, too: this is a story with the electric hum of a thriller — in a gentle key.
Davies, an award-winning short story writer, has a talent for creating slender masterpieces in historical settings: her first novel, West, was a fable-like tale about the exploration of America in the 19th century.
