This review from MINNESOTA MAGAZINE was so wonderful!
Mystery and Intrigue in the New WorldIn 1689, May Powers set sail for the New World, leaving behind her life in England, as well as her reputation as a brazen and wanton young woman. In America, she was to settle down and become respectable. She was to marry a man she'd never met--Gabriel, a plantation owner and the young son of a distant cousin.
Three years later, her little sister, Hannah, set off to join her. All brain where May was all heart, Hannah was her father's daughter. She had learned the craft of medicine by going with him on his rounds and was secretly practiced as a healer and a surgeon. She took with her to America her late father's surgical kit, a supply of healing herbs, and a strong hope that the new land would allow her and her sister to live the lives they were meant to live.
But the new world was no more enlightened than the old world. May's first encounter upon disembarking was with a group of people jeering a woman who was being dragged behind a boat. The torture--the woman nearly drowned--was punishment for adultery. Hannah's first encounter was with a family whose father was suffering terribly from kidney stones. Her shy offer of medical help was met with horror at her impropriety.
Mary Sharratt's new novel,
The Vanishing Point, is a page-turner, a mystery, a quietly feminist tale, and a richly researched historical novel with ever-unfolding plot twists. An author's note indicates that Sharratt, who also wrote
Summit Avenue and
The Real Minerva, spent 10 years researching the medicine and mores of the 17th century, and her expertise is evident. Her hand is sure as she guides us through the story, sprinking confident and casual references to birth control (did you know that honey kills sperm?), and healing herbs, and the Diggers and Levelers, English rebel groups who sought an end to feudal ways.
The Vanishing Point is also an examination of love, loyalty, and betrayal.
Hannah and her trunk eventually make it up the river to May's new home, but once there she finds that nothing was as she had expected. There was no plantation, just a rough cabin in the forest. The seven hired men the cousin had spoken of weren't there--no one was there except for Gabriel. May herself had vanished, and Gabriel told Hannah that she and their baby had died in childbirth.
There is no way for Hannah to leave, and during the weeks that follow--as Gabriel builds a dugout canoe to take her back down the river--the two fall in love. Gabriel is a mountain man with long hair and buckskin clothing. He clearly guards his thoughts and feelings, and it appears he has something to hide. But something in his gentle and vulnerable nature appeals to Hannah, and once the canoe is ready, she decides, instead, to stay.
Over time, the stories around May's death change, and change again, and Hannah fights growing doubt and guilt. Is it right to have found happiness with her dead sister's husband? What if he had been the cause of May's death? She finally realizes she must choose between her love for Gabriel, and her loyalty to her sister's memory. Which will win? And is May really dead? And if she is, how did she die?
The plot questions will keep you reading. But Sharratt's underlying message will keep you thinking long after the questions are answered.
Laurie Hertzel
