A Wild & True Relation
Sherwood quickly captures the reader’s imagination in this blistering tale of early 18th-century love, betrayal, murder, and revenge, wrapped up in a novel of smuggling, piracy, shipbuilding, and a girl who is not as she seems. The prose is superb at times, rightly earning the praise of the late Hilary Mantel. However, this novel is not without its issues. Many scenes change rapidly and without warning, sometimes even within the same page, so that the reader is left grappling, wondering who is talking and where this scene is set. The same goes for flashbacks between the book’s present and characters’ memories. This creates a dissociative experience, pulling the reader out of the story each time.
The main character is Molly, also known as Boy or (in a nod to Virginia Woolf) as Orlando. Whilst her character arc is well developed as the novel progresses, the earlier chapters see her acting unrealistically, her actions and thoughts calling into doubt her authenticity as a character. Her fluidity, switching between male and female, and the crew’s readiness to see her as one or the other, lacks credibility. The main male character Tom West’s inner motivations also felt sorely lacking at times.
The framing device for this novel is clever and absorbing, using real female authors of the past who gradually discover more of Molly’s story and let her voice speak out. This conceit may not please purists, and again it pulls the reader abruptly out of the action. But it does, without doubt, reinvigorate the genre. Sherwood should be applauded for her originality. For the subject matter alone, this is a welcome and refreshing book, but it won’t suit everyone. Give it time and careful attention, however, and expect to be rewarded.
