The Curious Spell of Madam Genova
In The Curious Spell of Madam Genova, the reader is taken on a journey through the 20th and 21st centuries as we follow the travels of an enchanted Boy Scout watch as it passes from hand to hand. Madam Genova, a single mother and fortuneteller of great repute, issues a warning to all those who possess the watch: Don’t lose it, or fate will turn rapidly against you.
It is 1927. Joshua is a young boy, a neighbor of Madam Genova and a friend of her son Jack. It is to him that the mysterious Tarot card reader first gifts the spell-bound time piece. From then on, though, the watch finds its way into the hands of some of the 20th century’s most renowned personages. Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano ascends the unsteady ladder of the New York mob. Charles Lindbergh flies over the Atlantic to France and to fame with the watch in his pocket. Nancy and Ronald Reagan possess it along with Marilyn Monroe, Astronaut Jim Lovell, and President Barack Obama.
Schwartz gives us an insider’s glimpse into history, evidenced by the research and an interest in the daily lives and emotional ups and downs of history’s most remarkable figures. However, drama requires a certain amount of ignorance. We don’t know what’s going to happen, so we keep on reading to find out. Madam Genova’s spell may be curious, even unsettling, but it is all too predictable. We already know what’s going to happen to all of these personages. Nothing is a surprise. In a work of historical fiction, we may know what will happen, but new details are revealed that we didn’t know about. This is not true here. As well, the dialogue is stiff and uninteresting. It was a novel I could put down and, unfortunately, did.
