Review of FAYNE by Ann-Marie MacDonald (New Release)

3.5 Stars

I loved Ann-Marie MacDonald’s previous novels, particularly Fall on Your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies.  This one didn’t wow me as much, though I’m willing to admit that this is my second consecutive 700+page book so I might be fatigued.

Charlotte Bell lives on the large estate known as Fayne on the English/Scottish border.  Her childhood has been without friends her own age; she has been kept isolated by her father, Lord Henry, because she has a mysterious illness which she has been told leaves her “morbidly susceptible to germs.”  Her mother died giving birth to Charlotte, and her older brother Charles, who would have been the heir to the estate and the title, died at the age of two.  Charlotte loves the bogs and moors and spends a great deal of time with Byrn, an old hired man who teaches her about the fen.  She also educates herself by reading through her father’s library, but for her twelfth birthday, her father gifts her a tutor.

The arrival of that tutor changes her life.  She decides she wants to attend university, though that is not really an option for women in the late 19^th century.  Her father takes her to Edinburgh for an examination which she assumes is the first step towards admission, but it turns out to be entirely different from what she foresees.  The treatment for her ailment is also something she never imagined.  Thus begins the unravelling of deep and dark family secrets.

Charlotte is a very intelligent girl who knows “Latin, Logic, Rhetoric, and . . . a tolerable grasp of Greek,” but she is also naive; because she has been so sheltered, she misunderstands so much.  For instance, when she visits an area in Edinburgh known for its fallen women, she “scanned the street for a fallen woman, but all were upright.”  There are also topics which are never discussed with her, so she has little understanding of her body and sexuality.  I did find myself at times wondering if such a perceptive and curious girl would not realize sooner what is really happening to her and around her. 

The novel has dual time lines.  Charlotte’s story is interspersed with that of her mother.  Via flashbacks, we meet Lady Marie when she first meets Lord Henry who has been given strict instructions by his sister Clarissa to find a wife and produce an heir.  Unfortunately, this approach results in some repetition:  the same event is repeated, though from the perspective of a different character. 

There are a lot of plot twists, so readers shouldn’t read too many reviews of the book beforehand; some reviewers tend to divulge events and thereby lessen their impact on readers.  Some of the twists revolve around connections between characters which seem rather coincidental.  For instance, the mothers of two characters are revealed to be characters previously featured in the book.  Key discoveries are made so conveniently just in time. 

Characters are developed in great detail and very realistically.  As I continued to read, my feelings about characters changed, as more and more was revealed.  A positive impression might not remain so and the same is true for characters who give a poor impression initially.  For both Lord Henry and Lady Marie, in particular, I felt various emotions.  Even for a villain, I could not but feel some sympathy because the reader is made privy to thoughts not openly expressed.  Given the time period, women were not able pursue dreams, and a life lived in a secondary role may cause bitterness.

There are elements of magic realism which I didn’t appeal to me.  Likewise, the philosophical musings at the end of the book seem superfluous.  At 700+ pages, the book could use some trimming, and I don’t think the magic realism is needed to develop theme.     

The book has a number of themes:  role of women, gender and identity, and even humanity’s abuse of the earth.  The novel, therefore, is very relevant, despite its setting.  The main message for me is that we should accept and appreciate all of nature and nature’s creations.  One man says, “’Nature doesnae deal in mistakes so much as differences.’”  The bird that Charlotte and her father create from bits and pieces of other birds serves as a symbol of our unwillingness to accept differences.  Lord Henry says, “’It is a chimera. . . . other birds would peck it to death’” and Charlotte feels “a pang of pathos at how the creature was innocent of its own monstrosity.” 

There is a great deal in this book to analyze and applaud.  Its examination of dualities alone is worthy of an essay.  Unfortunately, the book just felt too long for me.  As I stated at the beginning, I may have been suffering reader fatigue.  I certainly recommend the book to those who have enjoyed Ann-Marie MacDonald’s previous novels.

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.