Caravan

ISBN: 1-55690-661-7 Order from: Recorded Books Amazon.com

This first-person story of adventure, courage, survival and love in harsh and exotic locales is touching, entertaining, and very satisfying.

Reviewed by David on March 17, 2002

Genre: Non-genre Fiction (Coming of Age, Romance, Occult)

Synopsis: This is an unabridged recording of Caravan. Some time around the beginning of the twentieth century, Caressa, a teenage girl grown up in a traveling carnival, enteres a snobby school in Boston. Propelled by her mother's social ambition, years of saving and occasional picked pocket, the sixteen-year-old Caressa hopes to climb the social ladder.

Caressa's painful struggle with the polite society is interrupted when the beautiful girl receives a proposal of marriage from a rich linguist, Jacob Bowman. After a quick marriage, the Bowmans travel to North Africa to pursue Jacob's research of the language of the Tuareg tribes.

Starkly different from the cool and ordered Boston society, North Africa teaches brutal lessons to the pampered Mr. Bowman and his naive but resourceful wife. Soon, Caressa is stranded on her own, and only her courage, endurance, and sometimes blind luck, are all that keep her alive and sane.

Full Review: This is a deeper and darker novel than most of Gilman's better known Pollifax mysteries (The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax and sequels). Told from the point of view of Caressa, many years after the adventures in this book, the events and emotions of the young girl—turning into a young woman—are immediate, intense and emotionally engaging. Caressa is courageous and intelligent, which doesn't preclude significant confision, fear and occasional despair. The mix is perfect to engage the reader's attention, and the detail of North Africa in the early years of the Twentieth Century create a fascinating picture of a harsh and beautiful land. The nature and people of the land come alive, and appear to represent significant research as well as fascination.

There is a small element of the supernatural, although it plays a very minor role. The narrative paints a protagonist both touchingly naive and very matter-of-fact about the brutal, and occasionally joyous lessons that mature her.

In general, this is an excellent, entertaining book, rich in solid craftsmanship and engaging emotion.

Overall: 6.5; Plot: 5.5; Characters: 6.5; Style: 6.5; World-building: 6.5; Originality: 6.5;

ISBN: 1-55690-661-7 Order from: Recorded Books Amazon.com