Book review: The Lacuna

Published on Saturday 7 November 2009 10:52

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver is published by Faber, priced £18.99.

Born in the United States to an American father, Harrison William Shepherd is raised in the native Mexico of his mother Salome, who aspires to rise to the upper echelons of her country's society.

Neglected by his mother, young Harrison is left to his own devices, observing his world and writing his thoughts in notebooks with gentle humour peppered with irony.

Harrison moves to Virginia in the US to join a military school, but fate brings him back to Mexico and his life takes a turn when he joins the household of the famous muralist Diego Rivera, his young wife Frida Kahlo and exiled Bolshevik leader Lev Trotsky.

Kingsolver weaves in historical events in a tale of fiction with mellifluous ease. Written as an epistolary novel, The Lacuna is the story of a man's quest for identity amid the turbulent political setting of 1950s Mexico and the US.

9/10 Review By Nilima Dey Sarker