The search for a loved one in 'A Far Country'

The second novel from the author of 'The Piano Tuner' takes the plot of a fairy tale and wraps it in gorgeous prose.

By Yvonne Zipp

from the March 20, 2007 edition

Page 1 of 2

A young girl sets out on a journey to find her beloved playmate, traveling great distances and undergoing hardship until she finds him. In his second novel, Daniel Mason takes the plot from fairy tales such as "The Snow Queen" but transplants it to a hot, drought-ridden land where snow itself would seem magical and a palace built from ice an unbelievable decadence.

Mason's acclaimed first novel, "The Piano Tuner," also sent a most unlikely candidate on a journey, into the interior of 19th-century Burma. But in his second novel, he trades precision for vague portents. A Far Country takes place in an unnamed city in an unnamed country in an area that could be either South America or Southeast Asia. But any weaknesses of plot in this novel can't obscure the abundance of beautiful prose that ultimately creates a compelling parable of poverty and survival.

Isabel grew up in a small northern village that "they would one day name Saint Michael in the Cane." When it rains, the families raise goats and zebu cows and work in the sugarcane fields. They can coax manioc and melons from the most stony soil. In the years that it doesn't rain, they eat cacti, mix earth into their beans so they will last longer, and catch ants and lizards. As if this weren't hardship enough, men show up from the south claiming to own the land and murdering villagers who try to farm without giving them half. Her village could be the one Isabel reads of in a story, "a land so poor it grew only gravestones."

Despite all this, Isabel considers herself content. The source of her happiness is her adored older brother, Isaias. She's followed him like a puppy since she could walk, eagerly listening to his dreams of becoming a professional musician in "the city."

"On the school map, it sat on the underbelly of the country, and she imagined it at the end of a long descent down a great plain; when someone left to work there, the people said they had 'gone down to the city,' and when they returned they came 'back up' north. A shuddering descent, like falling from the sky."

More and more northern villagers are making that journey, Isaias among them, causing Isabel's father to call it "a city built on drought."

Eventually, unable to find work, her father sends 14-year-old Isabel to the city after Isaias. Their cousin, Manuela, needs someone to look after her baby son while she's at work.

Page 1 | 2 | Next Page