Author Deanna Raybourn is best known for her Lady Julia mysteries, Victorian London-set books that have earned her legions of devoted fans. Her new book,
A Spear of Summer Grass, is a departure from that world. It's set in colonial Kenya in the years after World War I and this time the heroine is a scandal-prone heiress who's worn out her welcome in good society and eventually finds herself at the mercy of the law. Think Velma Kelly from "Chicago" does a cameo in
Out of Africa.
Summary: The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even amongst Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather's savannah manor house until gossip subsides. Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society.
Against the frivolity of her peers, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. As foreign to Delilah as Africa, Ryder becomes her guide to the complex beauty of this unknown world. Giraffes, buffalo, lions and elephants roam the shores of Lake Wanyama amid swirls of red dust. Here, life is lush and teeming-yet fleeting and often cheap.
Amidst the wonders-and dangers-of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for-and what she can no longer live without.
–
Goodreads
My thoughts: Upon reading Deanna Raybourn's acknowledgments at the end of
A Spear of Summer Grass, I was stunned to find that she hadn't visited Kenya herself. The novel so perfectly captured the African savannah (or at least what I imagine it to be like) that I still can't believe she did a lot of her research at Busch Gardens and Disney's Animal Kingdom.* Raybourn's descriptions are intense and breathtakingly lovely, and I found myself completely immersed in her world. The animals, the heat, even the colors of the sky seem to leap vividly off the page.
At first introduction, Delilah Drummond is a familiar wealthy dilettante heroine of the Lost Generation, a Brett Ashley by way of New Orleans. She's a shrewd operator, a sexually liberated Modern Girl who doesn't hesitate to use her feminine wiles to get exactly what she wants. She loves the finer things in life
– champagne, good gin, silk shoes, red lipstick – and she's certainly never dull. Her blithe attitude toward life and other people don't always make her likable, though, and she's particularly grating in the first part of the novel, where her forced gaiety made me uncomfortable. Once Delilah starts exploring Africa, though, she's much more approachable to the reader and I found myself hoping things would turn out well for her.
And of all the things that go well for Delilah, none is better than J. Ryder White, the Robert Redford of the novel (it really is impossible to escape the
Out of Africa comparisons). He's a hunter/tracker who knows Africa inside and out, but he recites poetry for fun and looks damn good in a dinner suit. Ryder guides Delilah through Africa literally and figuratively, and his love for the continent is palpable. Throughout the novel, he is Delilah's lodestone and his presence is felt even when he's absent from a scene. Raybourn also published a prequel novella,
Far in the Wilds, that details Ryder's story and I'm interested to read more about him.
A Spear of Summer Grass isn't an easy read. The colonial aspects of Delilah's world and even her own actions toward the Masai and Kikuyu are deeply unsettling. There is a fair amount of death – violent, gruesome death – and whether the victim is human or animal, it's not pleasant. Then there's an incident in which Ryder seems to cross the alpha male/alphahole line in a very odd interaction with Delilah, one that I found hard to forgive and forget (though I very much loved his final act of the novel).
Despite those issues, I did enjoy
A Spear of Summer Grass and particularly Raybourn's ability to so evoke a foreign world. Having read this book, I can easily imagine why the Lady Julia books have such a devoted following and I'm definitely putting them on my summer reading list.
GIVEAWAY: Courtesy of Harlequin, I have two copies of
A Spear of Summer Grass to give away. Comment on
this post to enter!
Rating: B
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Length: 370 pages
Sensuality: Mild
*Fingers crossed, though, that authors don't start doing research for their Parisian romance novels at Epcot Center.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.
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