Il est venu avec des anémones by Lyne Richard (review)

unique among literati in that she does not have a university degree. Thirty-seven years old, Ovaldé has penned six novels. Her latest traces the maternal lineage of several generations of single mothers raising single daughters in a world of relentless male violence. The story begins with Vera Candida planning her trip back to Vatapuna, a fictional South American island she left twenty-four years earlier to break a cycle of abuse for her daughter, Monica Rose. Vera Candida hopes to see her grandmother, Rose Bustamente, a quasi-mythical figure who had been thrown out of her home by her mother when she was fourteen years old for having lost her virginity. Rose nevertheless managed a good living as a prostitute until age forty when she deemed herself too old to continue such work, opting then to buy a boat, successfully capturing flying fish to sell at the market. Her life moves along peacefully until a wealthy man, Jeronimo, builds a mansion on the hill above Rose’s beach hut, and decides he wants her house razed because it blocks his view. He also decides that Rose must live with him and become his “queen.” Her refusal to give in igniting Jeronimo’s desire all the more, Rose becomes pregnant . She eventually escapes Jeronimo’s clutches and gives birth to Violette who by the age of six is helping her mother in the fishing business. Violette becomes an alcoholic and at fifteen is raped by the mayor. She gives birth to Vera Candida whom she cannot care for, and Vera Candida is raised by Rose. When Violette dies, Rose asks Vera Candida to go to Jeronimo’s manor to announce his daughter’s death. Raped by Jeronimo, Vera Candida hides the truth from Rose by running away to the big city, Lahomeria (which resembles Ciudad Juarez). She takes up residence in a home for unwed mothers and works in a factory; her life is one of fear and instability. She is especially concerned for the well-being of her little girl, Monica Rose, though she has a hard time connecting with her as a mother. Another male character appears on the scene, Itxaga, an idealistic journalist who falls in love with Vera Candida while trying to do a story on the horribly dangerous living and working conditions of women in Lahomeria. Vera Candida is wary if not disdainful of Itxaga, as she is of all men, but Itxaga is persistent in wanting to give Vera Candida and her daughter a safer life, even though she categorically refuses his offers. In the meantime, he is kidnapped and tortured for continuing to investigate for his story, while she is mercilessly shot by a suitor. Almost two years later Vera Candida agrees to come with her daughter to live with Itxaga, and over a period of time, these fragile people sustain a tenuous existence together, one of misunderstanding and distance and, at the same time, some kind of love. After a bitter discovery, Vera Candida decides to return to her native Vatapuna, leaving Itxaga and Monica Rose—and perhaps an impossible genealogy—behind for good. In the painfully beautiful Ce que je sais de Vera Candida, Ovaldé masterfully interweaves the qualities of magical realism and noir detective fiction to create a work of remarkable depth and poetry that proves at the same time to be a real page-turner. Union College (NY) Michelle Chilcoat RICHARD, LYNE. Il est venu avec des anémones. Montréal: Québec Amérique, 2009. ISBN 978-2-7644-0657-1. Pp. 184. $19,95 Can. Eros and Thanatos permeate every corner of this book, marketed as a collection of short stories but crafted like a novel—one that you cannot put down. Lyne Reviews 427 Richard is a poet who has also published fiction for both adults and young readers . She is also a visual artist, whose pencil-and-acrylic rendering of a female form, titled “1846,” makes for a very appropriate cover to this book. The image is important in three ways: it is a well-executed painting; it is a painting by the author of the fiction contained within, which is a rare thing; and...