When Belle and Sign decide to turn their back on the busy, city lifestyle of their peers, the two find a mountainside cottage to turn in a home, along with their two dogs. Seven Steeples follows the couple over the course of seven years as they settle in their home, into their relationship and slowly move away from modern society to become a community of just two.

This is a very quiet novel that exudes a real sense of peace and contentment within solitude that I appreciated. I did like the style of writing and story-telling that Sara Baume was going for with this novel but I have to admit that overall, I feel disappointed in the book as it was one I was really convinced I was going to love - running away to a country cottage with my dogs is my dream.

However, there were just some elements of Belle and Sigh's life that repulsed me a bit, and I think this is a nod to the writing as I believe Sara wanted the reader to feel a bit like I did. I didn't understand the urge to move away but then not really do anything with their life - there are some half-hearted attempts at gardening, and small bits of DIY but really they just seem happy to let their home crumble around them. I don't think I'm someone who can warm to two able-bodied people of sound and healthy mind who decide to never work again and take handouts from the government. I just can't really respect that when they had the time, health and energy to do something - even if it was a small business. They did absolutely nothing and it kind of infuriated me.

The descriptions of what is more or less just everyday dirt that most people live with had me feeling a bit sick in this book too but again, I think this showed a skill in the writing. There was a particular mention of an uncovered butter dish gathering all sorts of dirt from human skin flakes to dog hair, and a mouse nibble that had me gagging, as did the descriptions of the spiders who lived on the bedroom walls and ceiling and how bits of fly wing would float down onto the sleeping couple's faces YUCK but also great writing.

One of my main gripes with this book as the lack of dialogue. Not once do we get any kind of conversation between Belle and Sigh, or even any conversation or words to their dogs. While I understand this was a style choice, I think it made the book slightly dull to read at times, and I found it was hard sometimes to keep my attention on the story and I realised I had read the same paragraph a number of times without taking anything in.

There was a sense of loveliness about the type of life Belle and Sigh live, but it's not the idyllic country life I would envision for myself (more books, more cleaning and less locking oneself away from the world).