Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsStrong setup, frustrating follow-through
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2024
“She knew what he was going to say before he said it: that this had nothing to do with the patronage question; that surveying a small island and seeing to the transfer of its last remaining inhabitant to a new and more suitable location was a purely economic errand; that it had nothing to do with rich men doling out clerical livings and generally meddling with the spiritual independence of the Church; that the land was Lowrie’s and he had every right to organize it as he saw fit.” (p46)
The setup is perfect.
Start with historical context -- an important and tragic nineteenth century social issue worthy of serious attention. Introduce the protagonist -- a person of character whose real, quite reasonable family needs conflict somewhat with his core principles. Stir in circumstances that lead him to compromise those principles in a seemingly modest way. Make it all a bit ambiguous, so the protagonist, while guileless, is willfully blind to the weakness of the arguments supporting his potential compromise. Reveal the reactions of people in his inner circle – some view all this as appalling, others as little more than eyebrow-raising, and still others as much ado about nothing. Don’t forget to highlight the self-interest of those who encourage the compromise.
Finally (and this is no spoiler), in a moment of peril, throw in an encounter with an enigmatic “stranger” or “other,” and have the protagonist experience nothing but profound, overwhelming kindness. Now you’ve got yourself a quiet but real moral crisis, and at least the possibility of an epiphany. Or a reckoning. Or both.
But the follow-through left me frustrated. The author does very little with the premise. In a climax that feels rushed, she takes the story in an odd direction. And she never really looks closely at the essential moral problem in which the protagonist becomes entangled. I’m tempted to call it a bait-and-switch, but it feels more like the author lost interest in what she’d started.