Dust and Wonder
For roughly a decade after Krakatoa erupted on August 27, 1883, its dust whirled around the earth, especially the southern continents. That’s the “dust” of this title, sometimes iridescent and lovely, sometimes frightening, and also blurring vision. As for “wonder”: natural beauty, which the protagonist Ariadne (Ari) Archer sees vividly, creates only part. She inherited other mystical powers from her Irish father, though she’s not fully aware of that, growing up in Sydney with a social-climbing mother who dislikes her. Unusually for a young woman of her status, Ari escapes by taking a job at the spectacular Jenolan Caves. Griff Whitaker, a recently decommissioned lieutenant in the British Army fighting in Egypt over the Suez Canal, also ends up there, a broken man. His saving grace is playing his fiddle, a gift from his Irish mother, but it’s not enough to save him. Both possess “fae” sight, Ari more so, often seeing the world and others, including Griff, through a magical lens. Jerry and Cindy Wilson, the Irish couple who run the resort at the Caves, also have that otherworldly awareness—and every so often there’s a mysterious narrative voice, some sort of all-knowing entity.
This unusual story engages the reader with its poetic style, especially in Ari’s first-person chapters. Kim Kelly, a much-published Australian author, brings the marvels of the natural world and human connections into dramatic focus. The consequences of war and the rigidity of 19th-century social conventions require bravery to surmount. Griff, known for his daring physical feats, including heroism on the battlefield, must understand what drives himself and find solace within. That’s more difficult for him than for Ari, with her independent spirit, joyful vision and sense of fae, who has only external forces to fight. A compelling, gorgeously written novel.
