“Words were invented so that lies could be told.”
This is a strange novel that takes its readers back in time… to a far off land of imagination made of historical fictional that is partly true.
Set in 1890’s San Francisco, the story is about two women. First there is Lizzie Hayes, a volunteer at an orphanage, and Mrs Ellen Pleasant, a former slave whose climb up the social ladder raises many questions. The setting is San Francisco, where gossip is the oil that fires up this story. The story feels like a nostalgic throwback to 1890’s San Francisco – except that since none of us actually lived there during that time, we have to rely on Fowler’s depiction of it.
The language of this book is lyrical, with some lines reading like poetry, and others like quotes. It is written craftily to portray its mystery both through writing style and content.
What makes this story more compelling is that there may have in fact been a real Mary Ellen Pleasant. In this book Fowler pieces together fragments of hearsays after her research of 1890’s San Francisco where she says she found a palpable sense of Mrs Pleasant’s existence. Interestingly, some historians still dispute whether Mary Ellen Pleasant ever lived.
Fowler navigates the ambiguities skillfully. She centers the novel not around the plot but rather around the theme of gossip, mystery, and half-truths surrounding the characters. Along the way, the reader may not find all the answers. Fowler explains: “The usual rule regarding my historical fiction applies here: if it appears plausible, I probably made it up. If it seems too strange to be true, I probably didn’t. But maybe someone else did.”
