The Syringa Tree (2007)

by Pamela Gien

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pamela Gien turned her successful 2001 off-Broadway play of the same name into an impressive and gripping novel.

The story is told by Elizabeth Grace, a privileged white child living in South Africa under apartheid with her Jewish father, a physician working in a black hospital, and her depressed mother.  Elizabeth treasures her close relationship with her Xhosa nanny, Salamina, whose life is torn apart by the laws and oppression faced by those of her race.  Salamina has a baby illegally in the white suburb where the Grace’s reside, and Elizabeth and her parents help her hide the child, Moliseng, from the frequent police raids and Afrikaner neighbors.  Elizabeth becomes as attached to her as she is to her beloved nanny.  Yet eventually, their secret is revealed and Moliseng is taken away to live in the slums with her grandmother.  Moliseng grows to become a freedom fighter, and tragedy strikes, exposing Elizabeth to the realities of apartheid and shattering her innocence. 

The novel’s poetic prose and descriptions of the beautiful landscape of South Africa are sharply contrasted by the cruelty and inhumanity that befell most of the nation’s cultures.  Gien’s Broadway play won the Obie award in 2001, and her book is receiving acclaim as well.

The Crimson Portrait

by Jody Shields

Genre:  Historical Fiction

“She knew Julian had been called to her just as a bullet, a deadly projectile, the heat of an explosion, had been called to her husband. Countless hands had worked to heal this man, soothe his skin, hold a glass to his lips, a needle to his arm; he had been passed over water and land to meet her.  There were no coincidences during a war.”  

These foreboding words reveal the twisted mind of Catherine, the heroine of The Crimson Portrait by Jody Shields.  World War I is raging, and Catherine has lost her husband; her pain increases with every wounded soldier that comes to inhabit her country estate, which has been turned into a temporary hospital.  Every day brings more soldiers with severe injuries to the face, making them unable to function in regular society.  Catherine becomes attached to one soldier, Julian.  She is drawn to him because he reminds her so of her lost husband. 

Dr. McCleary and Dr. Kazanjian work tirelessly to give the soldiers a chance at recovering their identities.  They hire an artist, Anna, to create masks to reconstruct the faces of some of the soldiers.  Catherine becomes involved in Julian’s case, with her husband’s image in mind.

Publisher’s weekly writes, “Shields’s writing weaves dark mythical symbolism with matter-of-fact medical nitty-gritty to reveal what happens when class, ignorance, hopefulness and despair coalesce.”  Shields captivates readers with her foreboding tone, multiple character plots, and her ability to convey sorrow and loss mixed with renewed vigor for life in the face of destruction.  Shields’s slow pace may not appeal to everyone, but for those who enjoy novels that deal with intense human emotion, this one’s for you!