The Siege at Trencher’s Farm (1969)
by Gordon Williams
Re-published by Titan Books August 16, 2011
Filmed as Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah in 1971
and remade as Straw Dogs by Rod Lurie (opening Sept 16, 2011)
Lately my reading has been slacking. Books take me months to get through, as I fall asleep mere seconds after picking them up. When I sat down to read The Siege at Trencher’s Farm, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get through it in time to post this review. To my surprise I read the book in a couple of sittings and my eyes never drooped once, in fact, each chapter excited me to soldier on to the next as the sunlight dwindled and day turned to night.
George & Louise Magruder, along with their daughter Karen, move to Louise’s native England, in hopes that George can get some peace and quiet to finish his book. This isn’t a permanent move, it’s something more akin to an extended vacation, so they rent a farmhouse in the quaint village of Dando, where outsiders are not taken to kindly. Tensions run high from the beginning between the townsfolk and the newcomers, but also between the family members, with everything ultimately coming together in a feverish climax of stunning violence.