Review: "Devil Water" by Anya Seton

It seems to be History season for me. After ending 2010 with American history, my first read this year was set in the stormy Jacobite struggles of England, again from a Reader's Digest Condensed Books edition. For all the English authors I have read, my knowledge of Britain’s history is fuzzy at best. The English are to be blamed for that, they have way too much print on their history, you know. Ok, before I wander off as I usually do, let me get to the review part.

Having started off historical fiction with Kalki’s unmatched Ponniyin Selvan, my yardsticks for historical fiction are quite high. And Anya Seton’s Devil Water did live up to the expectations as best as any non-tamil writing could. The comprehension of the story and even my review requires some reading up on the history of the 17^th and 18^th century England.

While I cannot do justice to the review without some introduction to the Stuarts Monarchs of England, the history is highly complicated and difficult to explain. I will endeavor to state only the barest of essentials here. The Stuart Monarchs descended from the Kings of Scotland where they had ruled for over 200 years in the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th centuries. The Stuarts then ruled over the entire island of Britain from 1567 until the staunchly Catholic James II was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Stuarts did not rule between 1649 and 1660 when monarchy was inoperative as a result of the English Civil War. The novel is set in the Jacobite struggles of late 17^th and early 18^th century, when attempts were made to restore James II, then his son James III and later his grandson Charles to the throne. The word Jacobite derives from Jacobus which means James.

And now for a little bit of geography - Northumbria or Northumberland is the picturesque north corner of England, just south of Scotland.

The narrative of Devil Water unfolds from Charles Radcliffe, brother of the Earl of Derwentwater, James Radcliffe. The Radcliffe brothers were cousins to the Pretender James III and devoted supporters of the Jacobite cause.

The beginning of the book is a romantic read – descriptive and adventurous. The setting is pastoral and political connotations are sparse. The accents take some getting used to. Completely unfamiliar with how the Northumbrian, Highland accents sound, I stumbled over the dialogues quite a bit initially. Thankfully the author did not insist on sticking to accents throughout, that would have made it a bit tiresome.

The initial part of the narrative follows adolescent Charles Radcliffe romancing Meg Snowdon, a Highlands girl. The romance of Charles and Meg comes to an abrupt end when Meg disappears. With the arrival of James Radcliffe into the scene, the story moves between London and Dilston Castle. Charles is all set to marry his cousin Betty Lee, when he is snatched by Meg’s brothers and married to Meg who is pregnant with his child. Meg gives birth to a daughter – Jane, that very night.

Charles loves Jane as soon as he lays his eyes on her. Robert Wilson, Meg’s brother-in-law, a rustic young lad of ten, dotes upon little Jane. The affections these two widely different characters – one aristocratic, the other a simpleton, hold for Jane forms the centre stage of the story.

For a while it looks like the three are set to go their separate ways. While Charles works for the Jacobite cause with his brother James, Rob Wilson tries to make his own way in the world. Jane meanwhile, is sent to Betty Lee’s (who is married to another cousin now) household at the behest of Charles, to be brought up a lady. The Jacobite risings churn the waters and inexorably bring the three together.

Anya Seton writes suspense, romance, narrative and description with equal ease and in splendid style. The story has the right amount of drama, intrigue and the right pace to hold one’s interest. The author takes care to ensure the descriptions do not make the story unrealistic in anyway. The portrayal of Jane and her inner turmoils as she grows up at Betty’s household, is exceptionally well-written. The description of 18^th century London is refreshingly new and far removed from being cliché. 

The author moves to colonial America with ease as Jane follows Rob Wilson into Virginia. Plantation owners and their pride in their plantations and mansions is just so colonial America. Seton doesn't dwell too much on gory details, yet manages to bring out the situation of slaves succinctly.

The themes of the time – Jacobite struggle, contemptuous treatment of colonials, slavery in America are all beautifully captured in their essence. There is not a dull moment in the entire novel. The canvas stretching from Northumbrian Highlands to London to Virginia is vast and the pains the author has taken to carefully research each aspect of the story is self-evident in the flawless narratives.

It is an extremely difficult task to combine thoroughly researched history and intriguing story into one. Anya Seton has done the job well. There is definitely a very good storyline but this book is to be enjoyed equally for its portrayal of the times and the flow. It is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and would strongly recommend to anyone with a little patience to understand the history a bit.

P.S: I have tried to avoid too many details here so as to not give the story away.

Review: “Lady Washington, The Story of America’s First First Lady” by Dorothy Clarke Wilson

I have reason to believe every US President is a stimulus of economic activity in his own right, the reason being the number of books written on him. And these books are popular regardless of the President’s popularity or effectiveness. The fascination with the First Ladies seems to be even more hysterical. I had thought this began with Jackie Kennedy, but it goes long into the past.

I chanced upon “Lady Washington, The Story of America’s First First Lady” by Dorothy Clarke Wilson in a Reader’s Digest Condensed Edition (which I pick up without bothering about the books or summaries, provided they are pre-1990) volume of 1984. I was intrigued because I was just reading about the period of the American Independence and its related events.

Set in Virginia, the initial part of the book reads almost like fiction set in colonial America. There is not too much about the plantations, trade and related issues of the time. The focus is on the households of the plantation owners, socializing and the Colonial Assemblies that are more social affairs than political. Martha’s character buildup is quick and not very colorful.

Once George Washington comes into the picture, political events make themselves felt but only mildly. The author takes great care to ensure the book does not deviate into political waters or turn onto Washington. Washington is always viewed in Martha’s eyes. The author deserves credit for her focus here.

Contrary to my expectations that the book would become more interesting with the Declaration of independence, confrontation with Britain and the Presidency, it progressively became monotonous and slow.

Always following Martha, the writing style is very dry and often feels like a chronology than a story. As we go on, one can almost predict the sentences. There are repetitive phrases like “.. and his arms were around her.” every time Martha meets Washington after a separation. The lives of Washingtons seem to scattered with deaths of dear ones – they are also mentioned in the same fashion over and over again. Another lacking aspect is that there is very little on her interactions with her friends and contemporaries. They are mentioned only in passing, only exception being her first interaction Mary Washington, George’s mother.

Washington is portrayed reluctant to be in public affairs all the time.  And Martha in the vortex of it all, has no leaning towards any political ideology or opinion. She remains only a devoted and supportive wife for a very long time. While she has won the affection and admiration of the people by her unassuming self and good-naturedness, it is only at the end of his first Presidency that she actually realizes the significance of her position as First Lady. Even her caring for his soldiers is the duty of a wife to her husband’s affairs not patriotism.

The book in its devotion to correct chronicling of events misses out on innovation in writing. The narration of six years of Washington’s campaigns seems almost as tiring to the reader as the actual campaigns were to Lady Washington.

The book is a glorifying account of the life of Martha Washington and is all praise for George Washington's devotion to his country and modesty. It fails to make any mention of, or rather diligently avoids, the controversies surrounding the Washingtons, esp with regard to slavery. It only mentions that George Washington sets his slaves free in his will.

This was either a bad condensation(it is thick enough with 175 pages) that did not capture the essence of the book very well or the book itself has been written in a plain style. The book can be called informative at best, but netiher a very engaging read nor a non-partisan account. It can be read for its history – one who is ignorant of American independence history might find it useful and even a light way of understanding the sequence of events.

A historic silver lining

In these disturbing times of CWG worries, Ayodhya title-suit tensions, Kashmir troubles, floods and Naxal issues, there appear in the newspapers, once in a while, some heart-warming stories. One has to really burrow deep into the newspapers(and the right newspapers at that) to get to them, but they do exist, however small in proportion. One such stack of news stories that has been building up for sometime now is the news on heritage structures preservation.

We have been infamous for non-conservation of our structures. And what we did rarely in the name of conservation were shoddy jobs that distorted the monuments. What we did in the name of promoting tourism was even worse. Our Archeological Survey of India(ASI) has often been like most other government institutions – lethargic, if not anything worse.

So, it came as a surprise to learn about some really ambitious and well-done projects in archeology and heritage structures in the recent past.

First in the list is the Muzuris project. Muziris is an ancient port on the Malabar Coast that has been mentioned in ancient Tamil scriptures and Roman texts. It was a busy trading port in first century B.C.E. Though numerous speculations abounded, the exact location of Muziris had remained elusive so far. The fact that backwaters and river courses altered over the last two millennia did not help either.

For a long time, speculations on the location of the Muziris port centered around Kodunganallur on the banks of the Periyar River in the coast of Central Kerala. But puzzling lack of archealogical evidence meant Muziris remained mysterious. Careful study by a doctoral scholar in the 1990s threw up evidence of a small village Pattinam possibly being the spot where the flourishing port of Indo-Roman trade once lay. Archealogical evidence presented itself almost immediately and excitement mounted in all quarters. An expert team came together and systematic excavations began in the 2007. Excavations happen every year seasonally(due to the monsoon I guess) and loads of ancient treasures like beads, pottery, coins, etc have been unearthed. Iron age artifacts have also been found providing evidence that Muziris indeed had a long long history before it suddenly vanished one day.

Following the Muziris excavations, the Kerala government has launched the Rs 140-crore Muziris Heritage Project(MHP) which is funded fifty percent by the Central government. MHP covers not only excavations and conservation of the Muziris and its satellite ports, the project aims to pay a tribute and conserve heritage of the maritime history along the Malabar coast with central focus on Muziris.

One of the projects under the MHP is the Chennamangalam Paliyam Palace and Nalukettu mansion conservation project. The palace was built by the Dutch for the Paliyam chief for his help in dislodging the Portuguese. Distinctive Dutch architecture and historic significance of the palace make it an important landmark of the pre-British European colonial conquests on the Arabian coast. After the renovation works, the Palaces will be handed over to the trust that has been maintaining it traditionally to open to public and continue maintenance. This is a good example of practical and sensible public-private partnerships in heritage preservation.

Then coming as an example of social conscience towards preservation of history is the Uttaramerur Kailasanathar Temple renovation. An entirely a private effort led by the REACH foundation, an NGO, villagers and students of IIT Madras, there are several aspects to be praised here. The renovation was by no means a haphazard job and care was taken to preserve the originality of the structure. Scientific techniques of restoration and methods to test the structural strength (courtesy of IIT Madras) were employed. Inscriptions of Chola and Vijayanagara periods have been discovered in the course of the effort. Work over two years has restored the 1200-year-old temple to its former glory.

The latest news is about the most prestigious of India’s international heritage conservation efforts - the Ta Prohm temple conservation project awarded to the ASI. The 12^th Century Ta Prohm is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Angkor Wat region of Cambodia. Though the uniqueness of the temple lies in the interweaving of mammoth stone structures and tropical trees, unbridled growth of the trees will lead to complete demolition of the structure. ASI’s work has recreated some of the damaged parts of the temple, created supports in wood and steel as well as facilities for tourists to walk through safely and view the temple complex. Initial skepticism on ASI’s technical capabilities has been laid to rest with the good work demonstrated so far.

It is true that these heartening news are far and few. And the scale of the efforts is in no way comparable to what is required to preserve the expanse of the rich heritage structures and sites of India. We still have the yellowing façade of the Taj Mahal, decaying Nizam’s wardrobe or the monsoon-damaged Charminar. But these stories are definitely something to be appreciated, definitely feel-good.