Time Among the Dead

By Thomas Rayfiel
The Permanent Press, $26.00, 158 pages

In Time Among the Dead Thomas Rayfiel recounts the waning days of William, an elderly Victorian-era English gentleman who, through a journal supplied by his grandson, Seabold, examines his formerly unexamined life. What is revealed is unexpected, as well as moving, painful, and ultimately fully human, no matter what the era.

William’s journal entries show him to be a prickly, stand-offish sort who has strained relations with his grandson and most everyone else. His journaling and declining health unleash at first a dribble and then a torrent of memories, emotions, and visions which lead him to question the decisions he made in his life. They also lead him to a better understanding of Seabold, and the hope that he will lead a fuller life than did his grandfather.

Time Among the Dead accurately reflects the language and social mores of the time, and reads like a true Victorian-era journal. Rayfiel’s greater accomplishment, however, is to capture the revelatory impact the stirred up memories have on William as he realizes his life was not lived as it could, or perhaps should, have been. Time Among the Dead is fully satisfying on all levels.

Reviewed by Doug Robins