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Review
`This densely textured story forces readers to ask: who are the savages?' --The Sunday Times
`As Clare Clark's third novel so lushly illustrates, Louisiana has never been the safest place to live... this eye-opening account of Louisiana's early history conjures up a nicely gothic landscape' --The Independent
`As Clare Clark's third novel so lushly illustrates, Louisiana has never been the safest place to live... this eye-opening account of Louisiana's early history conjures up a nicely gothic landscape' --The Independent
Book Description
Love and betrayal among the first French settlers in the New World. Historial fiction at its absolute best - page-turning, though-provoking, heart-breaking.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The premise sounded wonderful when I discovered it on the longlist for the Orange Prize.
In 1704 a few hundred men were struggling to maintain a colony in Louisiana. Young women were sent from France to join them. To support them as their wives, to raise children and build a community.
One of them was Elizabeth Savaret, an orphan who had been raised by an aunt and uncle. Because it was their duty. She had little chance of finding a husband at home, but the New World held alluring possibilities.
And so the stage was set. An endearing heroine - who thinned out the linen in her trunk to make room for books - and masses of story potential.
Sure enough Elizabeth was quickly married, and passionately in love with her husband. How did they meet, what drew them together, how did their relationship grow. I haven't the slightest idea!
And that was my problem with this book.
So many crucial moments, in fact all of the major turning points of Elizabeth life were passed over. The story showed me Elizabeth's life, but I couldn't get to the heart of it.
I wanted to. She was an interesting character. She grew into a strong, independent woman, but a woman who was often blinded by her almost obsessive devotion to her husband.
He would let her down. Badly. And that would change the course of her life.
A ship's boy who arrived in Louisiana at the same time as Elizabeth crossed paths with Elizabeth and her husband more than once. Their destinies were linked. And another young Frenchwoman, who travelled along the same path as Elizabeth some years after, would also play a pivotal role.
Yes, the story was well constructed and well written.
Louisiana and life in the colony was very well evoked, with lots of telling details.
If only the Elizabeth's heart and mind had been better illuminated, if only the people around her had been drawn with just a little more detail, this could have been an enthralling historical novel.
Instead though it was maddening!
In 1704 a few hundred men were struggling to maintain a colony in Louisiana. Young women were sent from France to join them. To support them as their wives, to raise children and build a community.
One of them was Elizabeth Savaret, an orphan who had been raised by an aunt and uncle. Because it was their duty. She had little chance of finding a husband at home, but the New World held alluring possibilities.
And so the stage was set. An endearing heroine - who thinned out the linen in her trunk to make room for books - and masses of story potential.
Sure enough Elizabeth was quickly married, and passionately in love with her husband. How did they meet, what drew them together, how did their relationship grow. I haven't the slightest idea!
And that was my problem with this book.
So many crucial moments, in fact all of the major turning points of Elizabeth life were passed over. The story showed me Elizabeth's life, but I couldn't get to the heart of it.
I wanted to. She was an interesting character. She grew into a strong, independent woman, but a woman who was often blinded by her almost obsessive devotion to her husband.
He would let her down. Badly. And that would change the course of her life.
A ship's boy who arrived in Louisiana at the same time as Elizabeth crossed paths with Elizabeth and her husband more than once. Their destinies were linked. And another young Frenchwoman, who travelled along the same path as Elizabeth some years after, would also play a pivotal role.
Yes, the story was well constructed and well written.
Louisiana and life in the colony was very well evoked, with lots of telling details.
If only the Elizabeth's heart and mind had been better illuminated, if only the people around her had been drawn with just a little more detail, this could have been an enthralling historical novel.
Instead though it was maddening!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Clare Clark has a very particular way of writing. I do not know what her other novels are like, so I do not know if this is her preferred style, or just the way she writes for this particular book. There were moments, quite key moments in the book where important events could be covered in a rather ambiguous way, so that you were left thinking, what exactly happened just then, and it would not be until further in the book that they may get explained. I cannot highlight any of these as it would ruin the story if you are about to read it. Suffice to say that at times I could find this a little frustrating. From an historical point of view it was very interesting, but Elizabeth was not always an easy character for us to get on with. She is portrayed as a stong, independent thinking woman, and yet some of her actions were just so beyond all belief. Perhaps this was to highlight the 'love is blind' maxim. I would probably elevate this to 3 and a half if I was able.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Three stars for a fascinating setting, an intriguing premise, and some beautifully descriptive writing.
At the heart of this book is an obsessive love affair and a fatal betrayal, and a there's whole series of potentially dramatic and engrossing situations. But the characters are so vague and distant, and so many important events are glossed over or partially seen in flashback, that it's difficult to care or even understand what's going on half the time.
It's almost as if she got so immersed in her research, and then in recreating in detail the look and feel of Louisiana in the early eighteenth century (which she does, brilliantly, in an almost cinematic way), that she forgot about the plot and the characters. I could see the place very clearly, and I kept waiting for the story and the people to come alive, but they never did.
By the end, when it had all just fizzled out, I felt that I'd wasted a lot of time lost in the swamps with these early French settlers and 'the savages'.
Disappointing.
At the heart of this book is an obsessive love affair and a fatal betrayal, and a there's whole series of potentially dramatic and engrossing situations. But the characters are so vague and distant, and so many important events are glossed over or partially seen in flashback, that it's difficult to care or even understand what's going on half the time.
It's almost as if she got so immersed in her research, and then in recreating in detail the look and feel of Louisiana in the early eighteenth century (which she does, brilliantly, in an almost cinematic way), that she forgot about the plot and the characters. I could see the place very clearly, and I kept waiting for the story and the people to come alive, but they never did.
By the end, when it had all just fizzled out, I felt that I'd wasted a lot of time lost in the swamps with these early French settlers and 'the savages'.
Disappointing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Strong, considered language; strong, considered characters
Sold by her father in Paris to become a wife in the `prosperous' new colony of Louisiana, Elisabeth Savaret finds her expectations confounded at every turn - especially when she... Read more
Published 13 days ago by neverendings
(3.5 stars) Beautifully written but strangely amorphous and vague
Firstly, Clare Clark writes beautifully: her sentences are works of art - carefully balanced and constructed, effortlessly fresh and vibrant. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Roman Clodia
The best sort of historical fiction
Savage Lands is set in Louisiana at the beginning of the 18th Century. Elisabeth Savaret, an orphan, has travelled to the Americas as part of a consignment of wives for the... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs. K. A. P. Wright
Savage Lands
Not normally a fan of historical novels, I tried this as I feel it's important to have as wide-ranging a reading experience as possible. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Greenhippo
`When the leaves return I shall be married.'
In 1704, the French colony of Louisiana is struggling: fewer than two hundred men living in a land which is as much an enemy as the English. Read more
Published 24 months ago by J. Cameron-Smith
An extraordinary tale, evocatively told
This novel is really wonderful. From the very first page, Clare Clark pulls off that trick that only the very, very best historical novelists achieve: creating a sense of time and... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2010 by P. A. C. Roberts
Atmospheric & gripping
This is a beautifully written and admirably researched story which convincingly creates a picture of life in early eighteenth century French Louisiana. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2010 by Voracious reader
Frankly my dear, I just dont give a d****......
Savage Lands begin in 1704 when a group of French Women are sent to the Louisiana Territory to become brides to the settlers there. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2010 by Misfit
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