A MOSLEM WOMAN OF VALOR

          There are two ways to read a Daniel Silva novel. The first is to gobble it up in one go;the second is to savor it slowly and voluptuously.      Full disclosure, I have tried both approaches and found that either way, I remain an admirer of Silva’s clean, elegant prose,                brilliant plots and no-nonsense analysis of what goes on among those in the dark side and those who fight it. PORTRAIT OF A SPY, Silva’s latest novel featuring art restorer turned Mossad agent Gabriel Allon, proves yet again the art of suspenseful storytelling, the answer is that it remains in  masterful hands.

In PORTRAIT OF A SPY, Silva revisits Gunwalloe, the idyllic Cornish village where Allon and his alluring wife Chiara have returned after he helped blow up Iranian nuclear facilities. There, he works on a painting discovered by dapper London art dealer Julian Isherwood while Chiara entertains thought of taking over Isherwood’s gallery. After all Isherwood claims that he wants to retire and Allon has no intention of going back to hunting and neutralizing terrorists.

As it often happens in real life, reality intrudes on this dream world. Jihadis detonate bombs in Paris, Copenhagen and London, killing dozens of people and shattering Allon’s resolve “ to treat the Office like a jilted lover. Contact had to be kept to a minimum and it was best conducted in public places where a messy scene would be inappropriate. “

This time, the Office comes to him, in the person of its new chief, Uzi Navot. He makes the sort of appeal to Allon that a man of integrity cannot ignore. And Allon is, above all, the personification of the Elie Wiesel quote Silva chose as an epigraph, “A person of integrity can make the difference of life and death.”

To help make that difference, Allon assembles his own reliable team: unassuming archaelogist and tracker Eli Levon, Dina Sarid, the human database, Mikhail Abramov, a glacial marksman described as “Gabriel without a conscience”, veteran agent runner Yossi Rossner, former military intel officer Rimona Stern, Oded and Mordechai, “all purpose field hands.” Since this hunt for the terrorist behind the bombings is to be an international effort, the CIA insists upon adding agent Sarah Bancroft to the group. For all that, no Allon op is complete without infuriating, meddlesome, fatherly, lovable and indispensable Ari Shamron, former Mossad chief and Allon’s mentor. He rounds out the cast of characters some Silva readers have come to regard as real people.

Together, the members of the group decide to recruit someone to infiltrate the jihadi network. They decide on a Moslem woman, Nadia al-Bakari who happens to be the daughter of the late Zizi al-Bakari , a terrorists Allon and Abramov assassinated.

In a world rife with moral and political ambiguity, characters such as Allon and his team are strangely reassurance. Perhaps part of their evergreen appeal is that readers hope . Without that possibility, it is difficult to contemplate the possibility that “There exist in the world today a force that seeks to weaken or even destroy the West with indiscriminate violence. This force is part of a broader radical movement to impose sharia law and restore the Islamic Califate.”

Who can fight this force better than Nadia, a Moslem woman of valor? Silva paints her portrait as loving as Allon restores paintings of Old Masters. Her beauty and her compassion shine brilliantly throughout the novel. She is, in many ways, Gabriel’s perfect counterpart. Her aim is to make a difference, to improve the lot of the poor, the dispossessed and the oppressed. She uses her privileged position to talk openly about helping Moslem women realize their potential. She refuses to close her eyes to the suffering of the guest workers in places such as Dubai and she is willing to risk her life to rid Islam of the taint of terrorism. What happens as a result of her choice’s and Allon’s make PORTRAIT OF A SPY a breathtaking read. It is all good except for one problem, now I have to wait for Silva’s next novel.  

BEST GIFTS FOR THE 2011 HOLIDAY SEASON

There are a very  few  among this year’s  that I recommend as holiday gifts.  The first is EVIL EYE,  by one of my favourite authors, Jason Goodwin. In  this the fourth in the Investigator Yashim   series, the eponymous eunuch shines a dazzling light on the dark corners of the Ottoman Empire, as he pursues an admiral and former mentor who defected to Egypt. Master of  verbal tapestries embroidered in the silkiest of languages, Goodwin weaves a plot that takes  travellers  through  a  landscape dotted with exotic caravanserais,  quaint yalis, and opulent palaces to meet agas, pashas,  dancing girls, Janissaries and Circassian odalisques.  Charming Polish ambassador Palewski, French Empress Josephine’s cousin,  the valide sultan, Greek vegetable merchant George and the enchantress  Preen, reappear  in the cast of characters, bringing the pleasant familiarity of old friendships to the story. Although EVIL EYE stands on its own, the complete series ranks among my choices as one of the best gifts to lovers of good fiction.

My second recommendation is A TRICK OF LIGHT, seventh in the Inspector Gamache series by another of my favourite writers, Canadian   Louise Penny. The adventures of Armand Gamache, of the Surete du Quebec,  unfold in the tiny village of Three Pines, in Quebec, a place of great beauty and magic. There, a group of unforgettable characters–painters Clara and Morrow, vinegary poet Ruth Zardo, jolly innkeepers  Gabri and Olivier, no-nonsense bookseller Myrna Lander–add depth and color to the to elegantly devised plots. Readers have hailed this is a stand-alone book as the best of the series. Penny is  numerous literary prizes—Agatha and Arthur Ellis Awards among others–and it to discover the enchanted world she created is indeed a pleasure.
My third recommendation, LANTERNAS COR DE AURORA, by Brazilian Sanzio de Azevedo, is for Lusophone readers one. This a slender volume of haikus, composed with great skill and grace, highlights  the  imperishable beauty that links  places geographically remote to each other, such as northeast Brazil and Paris. while singing the glories of nature, Azevedo coaxes the sweetest notes from an instrument he has mastereed–the Portuguese language.

Fourth on my list is the present I am getting for myself–MOZART”S LAST ARIA, by  Matt Beynon  Rees. Having followed his evolution from nonfiction to fiction writer, having read his witty blog  I have no reason  doubt    Tasha Alexander when she says that this is  ”a stunning combination of mystery and meticulously researched historical fiction.”

Equally noteworthy are,

PORTRAIT OF A SPY, by Daniel Silva– please see review.

THE SILVER BOAT, by Luanne Rice–please see review.

ALICE BLISS–please see review.

CALEB’S CROSSING, by Geraldine Brooks–please see interview.

THE PURSUIT OF THE ABSURD

It would have been easy to turn ALICE BLISS into a maudlin story about the evils of war. But playwright Laura Harrington chose a more difficult course for first novel,creating characters whose joys and sorrows she rendered as thoroughly as if she lived inside their heads. Reduced to a minimum, this is a story about the ways in which a soldier‘s family copes with his absence. When her beloved father, Matt, goes to war in Iraq with his army reserves unit, fifteen year-old Alice, her eight-year-old sister Ellie, and their mother Angie begin the harrowing process of waiting for phone calls that never last long enough, for letters that can take weeks to arrive, for news that Matt is out of harm’s way.

This is a more than a coming of coming-of-age story in which circumstances force an adolescent into maturity. Told in the present tense, which adds a sense of urgency to its development, this the story of an absence that seeps into every corner of the main characters’ minds. Perhaps that happens because Matt is a lovable guy, “..who knows how to be happy. A former engineer, he’s now a carpenter, doing what he loves, a craftsman, meticulous. He likes to say the escaped from his career and got himself a job.” He is a man who loves to restore, to mend, to create. Together he and Alice plant a garden, fix a damaged roof, and with each task he adds to her store of self-confidence and courage. Why a man with so much talent for making things and people flourish would choose to go to war is a question Harrington does not answer to my satisfaction, but warriors may be the only ones to accept the absurdity of war. Bitterly opposed to his leaving, Matt’s wife Angie suspects his motives for choosing the army over his family,

“ You like this. You’re actually excited.”

He denies that he is making a choice and adds a series of justifications that ring hollow to reader who knows that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the ostensible reason for the United States to invade Iraq,

“I’m going where I’m needed.”

ALICE BLISS is not about politics and a foreigner reading it might miss the fact that Matt’s is a volunteer army. Instead of diminishing the beauty of the writing, these gaps add dimension to the novel and sharpen its focus on those left behind.

While trying to hold on to normalcy, Alice draws on the many lessons her father taught her. She nurtures her little sister, the endearing and occasionally exasperating Ellie, who is collector of long words and who is given to repeating g pronouncements such as,

“There can be ineffable joy in pursuing the absurd.”

This may well be war’s raison d’etre. Harrington does not elaborate. Her job, done exquisitely well, is to elevate ordinary lives into the sublime. Alice changes from happy, uncomplicated child to a young adult of remarkable grace and resilience. True, she has the support of an exceptionally good group of people–her childhood friend Henry and his parents, her grandmother, her colorful uncle Eddie. But none of them can keep away the dreadful knowledge of what is happening in Iraq, as an article in the local paper shows,

“Two soldiers were burned beyond recognition, a third soldier was dragged off. When found, the body was so badly mutilated the military announced it had found the body of two men…It had no head, legs or arms. Organs had been removed.”

“Why would anybody…God..how do you fight against that,” asks Alice.

That is one of the few instances where Harrington makes an implied judgment on the barbarity of war.

Lurking just below the surface, the barbarity eventually touches everyone in their circle. There is no easy way to understand it. For Angie, it occasions the passage of uncomplicated passion to unwelcome feelings,

“No one talks about the anger, the rage, how the love and longing are all mixed up with these other less attractive emotions. How could he leave me? How he leave us? “

For Alice, Ellie, Henry and all those whose lives Matt touched, it brings sorrow, loss and regret.

“They need boots on the ground,” as Matt says to justify his leaving, does not explain  why his family and his community must endure the unbearable burden of misplaced hope.Having chosen the harder, more realistic way of dealing with the incomprehensible, Harrington lets the reader reach his own conclusion. Hers  is not a pat formula.  Neither is this an ordinary novel. For the  excellent quality  of writing, for the unforgettable cast of characters, this is a book to be cherished.