GULLIVER’S WIFE | LAUREN CHATER | 2020
This was one of those books that I really wanted to love. It has all the hallmarks of a story that would appeal: historical fiction, women facing the misogyny of a patriarchal society, 17th century midwifery, a coming of age, herbs and a smattering of magic realism. The prologue is exquisitely written and I had high hopes that this would set the tone for the rest of the book.
This is the fictional story of Gulliver’s wife of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels where he is saved by the little people of Lilliput. Leumel Gulliver is depicted as a cruel and selfish man only interested in his own comfort. Lost at sea for three years he returns home suffering from hallucinations and a wandering mind. His wife Mary is the central character and in the meantime she has built up a successful midwifery business and raised their two children. Bess, their daughter at 14 shows all the signs of teenage angst and rebelliousness.
Mary is also a herbalist; the first descriptions of her garden are lovely and I wanted more but it wasn’t to be. A few mentions of concoctions was about it. It was inevitable that her daughter would follow in her footsteps but she had taken no steps towards the girl learning about the herbs or their uses. Mary seems unable to understand her daughter and her emotions are guarded. From death to rape to female curfews, Mary and Bess face some really harrowing, well-depicted troubles. I wanted them to defiantly triumph over these events but it seemed more like the failures and misfortunes of the men that lead to their liberation.
It’s generally a well-told story and very well researched. We’re left in no doubt that the times were difficult for women however, the characters seemed to be one-sided, either virtuously good or hideously bad. I found the plot to be a bit thin in places. There were some anachronisms such as referring to adrenaline which wasn’t discovered until 1901, and a number of poor metaphors and word choices which detracted from the storyline.
The tag line for the book is birth, death, wonder and while the first two are there in abundance, the wonder seemed to go missing in action. It’s a shame the promise of the prologue didn’t eventuate in the rest of the book.