Sarah Lark

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

Though listed as women’s fiction or romance, this novel is written very much in a literary style with literary conventions as opposed to genre ones. I say this up front because if a matter-of-fact, omniscient point of view that slips in and out of the various characters within scenes bothers you, The Island of the Red Mangroves might not be your cup of tea, especially since not all the main characters are likeable throughout most of the book.

That show more said, the style is effective in conveying a time where the social and legal consequences of being black are serious, and even life-threatening, in a vivid manner without disrupting the narrative. This is crucial because if the reader is sickened enough to stop reading, the understanding offered about this time would be lost.

This is not an easy read. Nor does it make light of the tenuous nature of a society built on declaring people sub-human because of skin tone. There’s a very real sense of both the delusions necessary to support a slave-based economy, and how some reject those delusions but still work within the system lest they be set outside it. I learned more about how the different European colonies approached the issue of slavery, and how those differences could be both better and worse for the slaves in question at the same time.

As to the characters, there were few I could connect to completely because of their ties to the system of slavery and the choices they made to support it, but seeing the different perspectives helped bring the complexity of the time to life. Doug and Nora, the parents of Deirdre, work inside the system of slavery to treat their slaves like family. At the same time, they still don’t give them freedom and jobs, though whether this is due to economics or the need to be a part of society rather than actually supporting the situation, I’m not sure. The delusions are so pervasive even those who find slavery repugnant buy into parts of it.

Victor is probably the character I could comprehend the most, and having grown up at school in Europe, he does not give in to the generally accepted rules governing race relations for all he can’t overtly fight them. He does act on his convictions and refuses to accept the myth that skin color changes a person’s rights for all that he has to be careful not to be too overt in his opinions.

The two main characters, Deirdre and Jefe, lost my sympathies early on for their unthinking arrogance and the (to me) abhorrent choices they made. They are often thoughtless and foolish and while I could live with them making a bad choice out of ignorance or delusion, they knowingly do wrong and think nothing of it as long as they’re not caught. Jefe is a free black while Deirdre is a mixed blood presented as the white daughter of Doug and Nora even though most on her home island know her history. This puts both of them in a tenuous position with real consequences they largely ignore. Jefe matures noticeably through the story, Deirdre less so, but their narratives form a crucial piece of the tale and the situation.

This brings me to Bonnie, who has led such a horrible life and did things against her inner convictions in the name of a choice that should not have been denied her. She is the most genuine of the characters, which is both engaging and frustrating as she refuses to see what’s clear to the reader and the other characters.

There are many leading characters to choose from with a rolling point of view that is sometimes distancing but also moves in to reveal the inner hopes and dreams of the characters. This allows the book to bring home the complexity of the times and race relations when the tensions were running high though some chose not to realize it. I was rarely confused in the transitions between characters, and though I might not have liked all the characters, I can see how each narrative brought something to the overall.

Though a slow read with rough writing at times beyond the literary style, this book proved a good glimpse into a troubling time through the eyes of people on all sides of the conflict. It’s a powerful story with the ability to open the reader’s eyes to what is often seen through simple, right/wrong perspectives and I’m glad I read it.

P.S. I received this title from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review. show less

Dit boek was dik ………maar wel de moeite waard om te lezen,ik vond het erg mooi heftig en hard maar zeker eentje die je niet snel uit je hoofd kan zetten.Soms werd het me te heftig en moest ik het boek even aan de kant leggen ,maar je wilt er snel weer in verder omdat het je zo aantrekt.Je zag het ook daadwerkelijk allemaal zo afspelen of je naar een film zat te kijken.Ik ben benieuwd naar het vervolg.Aanrader

What a fantastic book! I actually came upon Fire Blossom in a very roundabout way. I have been a lover of Sarah Lark for a few years now and I've read two of her series, so I looked her up at my library and they only had one audiobook for her. And it was in German. Hmm. So I try to figure out what the title of this German book might be, and what do I find? This book has only recently been translated into English and it's available through Netgalley right now even though it hasn't officially show more come out yet. A quick rearrange of all the books I was planning to read next to make way for this and I'm glad I did.

This book is similar in many ways to In the Land of the Long White Cloud. It is about early white settlers to New Zealand and all the drama that goes along with trying to make it in a (mostly) virgin land. It is, above all, a romance novel, though the lyrical writing/translating and the obvious research make this book virtually unputdownable. Every time I tried to do something with my life that wasn't read, I caught myself thinking of Cat, Ida, and Jane, and wondering how they were going to get out of their predicaments. I hope the sequel has already been translated so I don't have to wait too long to revisit all my favorite characters!

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

Song of the Spirits is the second part of Sarah Lark's tale of colonial families living in New Zealand in 1893 through 1898 and interacting with the people of the indigenous Maori culture. The story focuses on the third generation of Great Britain settlers in the Queensland area of the South Island. The city bustles with activity related to gold mining, with prospectors arriving from all over the world to get rich panning for gold. The head of a first generation immigrant family is Helen show more O'Keefe who owns a respectable hotel in Queensland for guests willing to obey strict rules of propriety. No ragtag miners are allowed to check in. Her friend, Gwyneira McKenzie is also a first generation immigrant who lives on a large sheep farm, Kiward Station in Haldon two or three days by horse and wagon away. Helen's teenage granddaughter Elaine works part time in the hotel as a receptionist and part time in her father Ruben's warehouse selling mining equipment and general goods to prospectors and residents of Haldon. Life is good in the boom town for Elaine until William Martyn, a young man from Ireland arrives to try his hand at gold mining. He has money because his father is a wealthy landowner in England. Although he is charming, there is a nagging question among the settlers concerning the reasons he left Ireland and his landed family. But, everything must be good because William begins a respectable courtship of Elaine.

William quits mining in disgust because of the grueling work with no payoff on his claim. As a result of his superficial charm and incomplete but higher education he is hired for a job in Ruben's warehouse as a bookkeeper. All is well as Elaine blossoms in her first love relationship at age 16. Unfortunately for Elaine, Gwyneira decides to take her granddaughter Kura, the beautiful and musically talented 15 year old daughter of her son and a Maori mother to visit Queensland. Gwyn believes she can interest the bored and restless teenager in staying in New Zealand and helping to run Kiward Station. Because of New Zealand inheritance laws, Kura will be the rightful owner of Kiward Station when she is twenty one. The half English and half Maori girl only wants to go to Europe to train to become a famous singer/musician. William quickly develops a sensual and financial interest in the young Kura and a love triangle is formed: William, Elaine, and Kura. But, this is only the beginning of the story for these young people.

The stage is set for a sweeping story focusing on the development of the third generation settlers, Elaine and Kura and their immediate and extended families. In the novel there are themes of good and bad personal relationships, major life decisions and consequences of the main characters, land rights and issues of inheritance of the land for settlers versus Maori, positive cultural interaction countered by civil unrest, and a growing awareness by all involved of the persistent spiritual legacy of the land and the culture of the indigenous people of New Zealand.

I enjoyed reading this lengthy novel, although I should have read part one first of the saga, In the Land of the Long White Cloud. Sarah Lark does bring readers who have not read part one up to the present year of 1893 with short explanations, but most of the drama of the early history of the characters is missing. The historical novel by this German author is reminiscent of Thomas Mann's multi-generational novel Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family. Mann's work also takes place around the turn of the 20th Century and Mann described with parallel themes of generational and cultural changes in Germany focusing on interesting and well-developed characters. As with Sarah Lark's novels, Mann's novel was very popular in Germany. I recommend Song of the Spirit (and Buddenbrooks) for readers who enjoy historical/romance novels. show less