Men of Mawm

On a dreary November afternoon, James Inman arrives in the village of Mawm, seeking a fresh start after losing his job in the wake of a heated argument with the formidable Baldwin Briggs. But Mawm offers no clean slates. The village sits harsh and atmospheric on the Yorkshire moors, its tight-knit community bound by old grudges and deeper loyalties. Here Inman encounters Maniwel Drake, a man who lost his arm yet refuses to lose his cheer, and watches the simmering tensions between Briggs and Jagger Drake play out in the village tavern, where newcomer and native alike are judged by the company they keep. The arrival of Nancy Clegg, daughter of the sawmill owner, threatens to complicate matters further, as the Drakes' interest in her sets the stage for conflicts both personal and social. Riley paints a stark portrait of a place where every greeting carries weight, every slight earns interest, and a man's ambitions must reckon with the accumulated history of his neighbors. For readers who cherish the rural English tradition of Thomas Hardy and George Eliot, this is a study of competing temperaments: the selfish man who hoards for himself, and the wounded man who refuses to let his spirit be maimed.