Sister Liberty

by Gregory Hill

Series:Stables Family Chronicles (1)

Description

In 1885, two lesbian widows (Annie and Euphm?ie) and a precocious young boy (Auguste) are forced by murderous circumstances to flee their French village. Further circumstances--and a quartet of missionaries representing a Christian sect/cult that celebrates solemnity--stow them away within the Statue of Liberty's head on a trans-Atlantic steamer that arrives in New York after a surviving a giant narwhal that has reduced the Solemnitic missionaries from a quartet to a trio. The remaining show more Solemnites invite the French immigr?s to southern Indiana live in their idyllic village that forbids all forms of pleasure, with the exception of whistling whilst one works. In spite of various hi-jinks and apostatic misunderstandings (the latter motivated primarily by young Auguste's adoration of his philosophical namesake, Auguste Comte) The widows and the boy become fully integrated into the village. Certain delicate subjects, including the decidedly un-Solemnitic relationship between the two widows, are avoided altogether...until they aren't. Which becomes the case once Solemn is tapped as the host-village for the 1885 All-Tent Revival. The revival calls itself a "multi-denominational marketplace for God", but an alternative tag line could be "a time-bomb composed of two-hundred rival factions of late-19th-century American crack-pot religious sects." Call it an inspirational, satirical, cross-Atlantic anthem to just a few of the things that America can't always bring itself to stand for: Libert,? Egalit,? and Sororit.? show less

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2 reviews

TinaC1 240 reviews

A very engagingly written story, fast paced and light (even the not so happy bits), made me smile inside. As in the title it’s the first part in the history of the Lestables family starting in the 1800’s. The story is so full of content I forgot the details of the family member in this day and age the book stated with!!
Looking forward to the next instalment

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Mar 10, 2023

Corrie57 178 reviews

The beginning of the book is very, very good. Two prefaces and then the book starts with something awful happening.
I liked the prefaces and I liked the beginning of the book.
It is funny, hilarious, strange, all that.
Unfortunately, the further I read, the less I liked reading the book.
Do not understand me wrong, it still is a good book. But too much is happening and the story gets incoherent.
Towards the end of the book the author gets back in control of his story. And then something happened I had not seen coming at all. I liked that.

I do not know, whether the book is indeed a part of a series. I do not think I will read on. Perhaps I cannot appreciate the book enough, because I am not American.