"Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson

"Peter West" is the one novel by D.E. Stevenson that my DES reading group has never read together in its 25+ years of existence. Most of the members who have read it before have commented that it's not among their DES favourites. 

Just a few chapters in, I could see why.  

This was Stevenson's very first published novel (serialized first and then published in book form in 1923), and it contains some of the hallmarks of many later DES novels -- it's set in a small village (Kintoul) in Scotland, with some lovely landscape descriptions, a strong sense of morality, loyal servants/retainers, a sympathetic minister of the local church, etc.  But Stevenson here is still very much an author finding her voice. 

The title character, Peter West, 35, has watched Beth Kerr, the daughter of the local boatman/ferry operator grow up into a beautiful young woman. As the Goodreads blurb for this book says, "Peter is a lonely man with a weak heart and few family members and friends."  Both are manipulated by their families into marriages to other people, but this only serves to strengthen their feelings for each other. Will true love triumph? (You probably already know the answer, lol.) 

Stevenson was very much a woman of her class and times, and that's often reflected in her books.  Generally, however, it's not as blatantly obvious in her later books as it is here. I'm willing to forgive the occasional cringeworthy word choice or sentence when the rest of the book is good. "Peter West," however, contains some real clangers that are pretty jarring to our modern sensibilities. 

Peter is about 35 and while we don't know exactly how old Beth is (I'm guessing probably around 16-17?), she's described -- in Peter's own words & thoughts -- as a child -- which, from a modern perspective (again), seems slightly icky.  

The book was somewhat redeemed near the end when Beth explains to a friend that "I just felt it was my right to have a happy life, or at least one not utterly sordid and miserable.. may be more selfish than our mothers, but at least we are more able to face life, and are truer to ourselves."  What an enlightened feminist statement for 1923!  

But overall, this a much darker, more melodramatic/overwrought and less charming story than Stevenson's usual/later fare. I love most of Stevenson's other novels that I've read to date (and I've read a lot of them) -- and I don't regret reading this one -- but I doubt I'll be returning to this one anytime soon.    

I struggled with the rating for this one. 2.5 stars for StoryGraph, and I debated whether I should round that up or down for Goodreads. It had its good points -- and it pains me to give a DES book such a low rating -- but ultimately I can't put it on the same level as other DES books I've read and rated at 3 stars. 

2 stars it is.  

I'll count this one as a re-read when we finish our chapter-by-chapter group read & discussion in late March.  

This was Book #2 read to date in 2025 (and Book #2 finished in January), bringing me to 4% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book ahead of schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books."