Lives of Shadows

Unusual in its combination of story and illustration, Hodgson's latest novel, set in Damascus, is a ghost story for believers in magic, lost palaces, and the felicitous communion of two spirits. But it is not "just" a romance. In fact, the narrative moves along so precisely and with such unadorned language that it is as much a day-by-day journal of the restoration of an ancient house, which is at the heart of the action, as it is the story of a ghostly love.

Julian Beaufort, a young Briton on a 1914 graduation tour of the Middle East, falls in love with an old house in Damascus, once part of a large complex, and succeeds in buying it from the family which has occupied it for 210 years. World War I and a civil war in Syria delay his return to Syria until 1926, and when he finally gets back, he discovers that his house is the only one in the neighborhood to have survived the bombings and subsequent fires in Damascus.

Aided by the maid of the former owner, a porter he meets at the railroad station, and his Arabic teacher, he begins the restoration of the house to its former grandeur, a project which takes twenty years. The architectural drawings of various rooms and wings, and the sketches of details he plans to restore seem to grow larger and more vibrant while he is asleep, however, and we discover that Asilah, the missing daughter of the former owner, is "helping" from her hiding place, connecting psychically with Julian.

Hodgson, who is also an artist, has filled the novel with old newspaper photographs and stories, snapshots of Damascus, family portraits, Arabic writing, pressed flowers, transparencies, maps, close-ups of architectural detail, sketches, and even Julian's to-do lists. The reader does not need to "suspend disbelief" here because this detritus from Julian's daily life "proves" his existence. Asilah, and the palace which she explores and describes to us, may or may not exist, but we are willing to accept her existence at face value because we "know" that Julian exists. Fun to read, with illustrations which will fascinate even those who are not art historians, this novel is a welcome change of pace, a delightful and beautiful book satisfying on several levels. The abrupt ending, designed to surprise, is not really unexpected, but that is a small quibble for a book that is so visually pleasing, a rare picture book for adults. Mary Whipple

Barbara Hodgson

Reader Reviews:

"He senses something special beyond what he sees." (17/17 people found this helpful)

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