Savage Lands - Clare Clark

There is something special about Clare Clark’s fiction; I am sure about that now, but how to describe what she does so well without getting into a debate about what makes ‘good’ historical fiction? Clark is writing dark, cruel fiction where she destroys her main characters whether they deserve it or not. She’s writing fiction without any real moral underpinning. She’s writing historical characters that present authentic historical attitudes and mostly avoids introducing modern views unless she can think of a plausible context for them. I have a feeling that lots of people are not going to like the approach she takes, because her novels 'The Great Stink’ and ‘Savage Lands’ are so different from the majority of historical fiction being published (although there are other authors working along similar lines).

I think her books are exciting, because in my opinion historical fiction has become too safe. Authors are adept at creating grim atmospheres, but there’s a sense of security underneath that assures you the characters you like will survive. So many characters have extremely progressive views, or are punished because their morals don’t match modern readers. Few authors really capture the fear and the prejudice that came with just being alive before the twentieth century. That doesn’t mean I don’t like to read much of the historical fiction that’s published, but it’s really become my safe genre. Of course, history has never been safe and I’d like a higher proportion of books in the genre to trouble my mind. So, yes, not saying normal, safe historical fiction isn’t good, but I’d like to see more from the dark side please.

Now, on to 'Savage Lands’ proper. It’s 1704; Elizabeth Savaret joins a group of French girls, who are sent overseas to become wives for the settlers of Mobile, Louisianna. The girls’ dream of love in an exotic location and only Elizabeth maintains a practical view of her situation. When they arrive in Mobile, they discover the New World is rather coarser than they were promised, but almost alone among the young women, Elizabeth finds love with her new husband Jeane-Claude Babelon.

Many bad things happen to Elizabeth and the girls she arrives with. Like I said Clark is brutal with her characters, especially her heroine Elizabeth. Strangely, the piling on of tragedy actually seems to be a strategy to help readers warm to rather unlikeable characters. At first, Elizabeth seems to have emerged in a typically sympathetic shape. She’s a rebellious, adventurous modern woman trapped in a historical woman’s body, who longs to escape her aunt’s claustrophobic dress shop and adores reading. However, soon she becomes a character who is hard for a modern reader to like, as she shows she disdains all other female company and becomes obsessed with her husband. When she comes out with the line ‘books were the solace of those who did not live’ she will put every modern reader’s back up. Then a succession of miscarriages begins and her husband turns out to be extremely flawed. Her tragedy allows readers to empathise with Elizabeth, despite the fact that her authentic historical behaviour may initially create a barrier between her and the reader. By the end of the book every reader will be straining for some good to come to Elizabeth.

Auguste Guichard is another character whose authenticity initially keeps the reader from warming to him. Auguste is a cabin boy who arrives in the New World around the same time as Elizabeth. He is left in an Indian village, ostensibly to strengthen relationships between the French and the Native Americans, but is really expected to spy on the tribe. At first Auguste is a spiky character, reluctant to join in with village life and disgusted by the ‘savage’ way of life. His views make him hard for a modern reader to like, but they make him an authentic character. Then his dog dies. As anyone who has read ‘The Great Stink’ will know, Clark can conjure a great deal of emotion through a simple friendship between man and dog, without being sentimental. After the dog dies it’s hard not to feel some connection with Auguste, who is all alone among unfamiliar people and feels the need to prove himself a man, even though he’s just a young boy.

As a modern author Clark was never going to escape the need for introducing what we think of as modern sensibilities into a book about French settlers and Native Americans. She may find a way to encourage readers to like her politically incorrect characters, but she also finds subtle, contextually appropriate ways to critique the colonialist attitudes expressed in the book. While Auguste begins by expressing disgust and hatred for the people he lives among, he is later the means for Clark to show that the colonists treatment of the native people is wrong. While Elizabeth’s relationship with the slave her husband brings home is complicated, by the end of the novel she feels tied to her by companionship and what they have shared:

‘Sometimes as she worked, Elisabeth heard the steady thump of Jeanne pounding corn, but when she looked up there was no one there. She looked at the covered mortar, the paddle propped idle against the wall, and she bent her head and counted the thumps of her own heart quiet in her chest. When evening came and the mosquitoes gathered in the darkening sky, the long shadows over the yard had the shape of her.’ .

Jeanne’s daughter Marguerite, also forms a special bond with Elizabeth and is one of several small characters who give the Native Americans a voice in this novel. Still, this is all done in an incredibly subtle way to avoid disturbing the historical authenticity of this book and sometimes it feels a little too subtle. Sometimes the Native Americans could have done with a much louder voice, while ‘Savage Lands’ is mostly about the colonist’s feelings.

When Auguste meets Jeane-Claude, he is brought back among French settlers, but can’t fit among them after his time with the Native Americans. He feels a connection to Elizabeth and her husband, but readers can never be sure if he feels romantic love for these two, or if shared experience and kindness makes their friendship feel so intense. These three people must work out how to live in the country they now call home, because there simply isn’t any other choice. They cling to each other, yet they repel each other and these essential relationships are what Clark uses to create her secrets and revelations style plot.

In ‘Savage Lands’, as in ‘The Great Stink’, plot is second to character study. Honestly, I wish Clark would just give up on incorporating mystery plots into her novels, because her plot action tends to be weak and can obscure her strong character development. The biggest problem with ‘Savage Lands’ follows the introduction of the seismic event that leads to secrets, lies and misunderstanding. After this point the book is permeated with a feeling of disconnection that almost breaks the link between reader and character. What is supposed to be a tight plot woven of details that are kept cleverly obscured from the reader, is actually a jumble of back tracked information that keeps readers from learning about the character’s current situation.

‘Savage Lands’ isn’t on the Orange prize shortlist, but it is good as is ‘The Great Stink’ (long listed in 2005). One more author to watch brought to you by the Orange list.

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