Wild Talent: : A Novel of the Supernatural
by Eileen Kernaghan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eileen KernaghanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-01
ISBN: 1897235402
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Thistledown Press
Book Reviews of Wild Talent: : A Novel of the Supernatural
Book Review: Philosophist Adventure in Victiorian London and Belle Epoque Paris
Summary: 5 Stars
Readers who are familiar with Eileen Kernaghan's work know the skill with which she can weave the particulars of historical settings into the storyline of her fiction. In her last novel, The Alchemist's Daughter, the historical setting is the England of Elizabeth I. Now, in this latest book, Wild Talent, the scene is Victorian London and Paris of La Belle Epoque. The time period is specific as the story starts in March of 1888 and ends in September 15th of 1889. It is told in the first person through the diaries of a sixteen-year old Scottish farm worker, Jeannie Guthrie. As with the previous novel, where a thread of the occult runs through it, this novel incorporates the author's knowledge of spiritualism and theosophy. The heroine Jeannie is introduced into the famous salon of Madame Helena Blavatsky, (founder of the Theosophical Society), whose reputed psychic powers included levitation, clairvoyance, telepathy and clairaudience. Today, it may be easy for some to dismiss the Theosophists as crackpots, but in its heyday there was tremendous interest in it, and many people were later influenced by Blavatsky's writings, including Mahatma Gandhi, James Joyce and Wassily Kandinsky. Even Arthur Conan Doyle, who makes a brief appearance in this book, devoted his later years to its study. Indeed, many luminaries grace the book, for the years 1888/ 1889 were especially rich with personalities, events and associations. Of special interest is the role played by the other main real personage in the book, Alexandra David Neel, who could only be described as an adventuress and far traveler, and who befriends Jeannie. Kernaghan refers to Neel's London journal of 1888 as a reference source for this book.
It is within this rich structure that Kernaghan weaves her story, seamlessly inserting the fiction of Jeannie Guthrie into the historical facts. Real people populate the book and real events, such as the horrific murders of prostitutes in London and the construction of the iron tower by Eiffel, are worked into the story. This material is handled without pedantry by the author and does not impede the story, which is told in a light and economical way. As well, the author is very careful to ensure that the little telling details, so important to any historical fiction, ring true. So when the heroine refers to her "rough tweed leggings and tackety lace-up boots", or describes that "she took a card out of her reticule", it sounds right. The reader is left with the impression that, like an iceberg where only the tip is showing, the author has done a lot of background work in researching these details and laying these little gems to sparkle here and there in the book.
This book will especially appeal to those with an interest in this particular locus in time and place, and also to those with a curiosity for seances, spiritualism, symbolist art and poetry, esoteric cults and the Beyond. The book is written as a Young Adult Novel, and many teenagers will get an especially big kick out of the chapter where Jeannie works for a phony clairvoyant as some of her tricks are dissected, but the material is certainly rich enough to provide adult readers with an enjoyable read as well.
Wild Talent: : A Novel of the Supernatural
Summary of Wild Talent: : A Novel of the Supernatural
The year is 1888. Life takes an abrupt turn for sixteen year old Scottish farm worker Jeannie Guthrie when she defends herself against the advances of her ne'er-do-well cousin George. Convinced that she has fatally wounded her cousin, Jeannie flees in panic to London. There she is befriended by the free-spirited Alexandra David, and introduced to Madame Helena Blavatsky's famous salon. In that eccentric household Jeannie comes to realize that she possesses a dangerous and unwished-for "wild talent". Drawn reluctantly into the world of the occult, and seemingly haunted by George's vengeful ghost, Jeannie must learn to control her mysterious power in order to survive.We follow Jeannie and Alexandra as they travel from the late Victorian world of spiritualists and theosophists to the fin de siècle Paris of artists, anarchists and esoteric cults; and finally to the perilous country of the Beyond.
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