Subject: Review of THE PORCELAIN DOVE by Delia Sherman

From: [email-masked] (Alayne McGregor)
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 02:58:25 GMT

THE PORCELAIN DOVE
                      by Delia Sherman
                reviewed by Alayne McGregor

     Once upon a time in the mountainous east of France, there was a duchy
called Malvoeux. 

     So begins a story of cruelty and bloodshed, sorcery and strangeness,
beauty and artifice, delusion and fakery, set in pre-revolutionary France. 

     It's the story of a femme du chambre, Berthe Duvet, and her mistress
Adele, who marries the Duc de Malvoeux. It involves Adele's children, the
dissolute Leon and the would-be monk Justin, and her husband, who cares
only for his huge collection of birds. 

     Most of all, it is the story of Adele's daughter, Linotte, who,
together with the sometime page Pompey, lifts the curse on the Malvoeux
family by finding the magical porcelain dove. 

     Berthe narrates this story, starting with her prosaic bourgeois birth
and childhood, in such a natural manner that the fantastic events that
come more and more frequently as the book continues seem as natural (or
unnatural, depending on your viewpoint) as the impending revolution.  The
sacking of the Bastille seems as strange, through Berthe's eyes, as
invisible sorcerous hands drawing water from the well. 

     This novel can be seen in many guises: as a social commentary on the
gulf between the classes in 18th century France, as a magical quest, or as
a fairytale. In all those guises, Sherman has shown a brilliant mastery of
voice. Berthe always sounds herself: French, a member of the servant
class, and a romantic, in her own way. 

     The story itself is circular; the ending is told at the beginning,
and yet no suspense is lost. We still wonder how Linotte can accomplish
her quest, how the Duc and Duchesse and their family survive the
Revolution. 

     And yet, while I found this book both interesting and admirable, I
had to push myself to get through the first two-thirds. Perhaps it's
simply because I don't enjoy the period, with its squalor and misery
contrasted with flagrant excess. Perhaps it's that I don't like Sevres
porcelain, either: the ornaments, while beautiful, strike me as cold and
heartless. Aside from Berthe, too many of the characters in this book were
like that. 

     Nevertheless, I do not see how Sherman could have written this book
in any other way. Read this book if you like truly original fantasy,
beautifully written and wonderfully researched. 

%A      Sherman, Delia 
%T      The Porcelain Dove
%I      Dutton
%C      New York
%D      1993
%G      ISBN 0-525-93608-4
%P      404pp
%O      hardback

--
Alayne McGregor                         [email-masked]
[email-masked]
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