"Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson (re-read)

My D.E. Stevenson reading group has just finished its chapter-by-chapter reading & discussion of Stevenson's first published novel, "Peter West" (1923) -- the one DES novel the group has never read covered in its 25+ years of existence. (I read the book on my own in January, before we began as a group, and reviewed it here.) 

Peter West, 35, has watched Beth Kerr, the daughter of the local boatman/ferry operator grow up into a beautiful young woman. He realizes he loves her, but is manipulated by his scheming older sister into a marriage with a more "suitable" partner. Beth, too, is herded into a loveless marriage with a prosperous but hard-drinking local farmer by her father.  (Mild spoiler alert!:)  There's ultimately a happy/hopeful ending, but not without a lot of heartache and drama for both the main characters.  

"Peter West" contains some of the features that show up in many of DES's later novels -- a Scottish setting, some lovely landscape descriptions, loyal servants/retainers, villainous sisters, sympathetic clergymen, etc.  But overall, it's much darker, more melodramatic and less charming than some of her later books. There are also (to modern readers) a few cringeworthy word choices/phrases, particularly in the early chapters. Stevenson here is still very much an author finding her voice.  This was definitely not a favourite of many of our group members, but I am still glad we read it.   

I originally rated this book 2.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 2 stars on Goodreads. As I said then, it had its good points, it's interesting from the perspective of the author's development as a writer -- and it pains me to give a DES book such a low rating -- but ultimately I can't put it on quite the same level as other DES books I've read and rated at 3 stars. 

Those ratings still stand upon re-reading.   

This was Book #10 read to date in 2025 (and Book #3 finished in March), bringing me to 22% 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."