Yours Is the Night
This complex, metaphysically-charged tale is anchored in the carnage that was no-man’s-land around the trenches in World War One France. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the fall of 1918 pitted U.S. and German soldiers in a desperate struggle. In the midst of chaos and the destruction of everything that might be termed human, an angelic voice breaks the silence and hovers over the maelstrom: “A melody – burrowing through the underbrush in minor notes, emerging from the bracken…” Is this air a harbinger of hope, or do the refrains unfortunately signal darker times?
In her complicated narrative told through the lens of multiple characters, Dykes forces readers to deeply engage with the story. There are numerous unanticipated twists and turns embedded in shifting geographic locations and timeframes. Although Dykes crafts several levels of interaction, the action mainly centers on two principles: Mireilles, a young Frenchwoman, and an American named Matthew Petticrew. Each—one a lost and lonely citizen, the other a soldier—is a very emotionally and spiritually damaged figure.
The overarching question remains: is Matthew simply imaging a sense of peace within chaos, or might he be losing his mind? Where do the melodies emanate from, and is this gesture simply futile within the overall carnage? Mireilles desires safety but ponders who she can trust in this difficult era. Matthew, in a similar manner, also seeks safety and peace. However, as each searches independently and jointly, positive possibilities are foreshadowed.
