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SAVAGE GIRL
by Jean Zimmerman
Penguin, April 2015
416 pages
$27.95
ISBN: 0670014850


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

SAVAGE GIRL by Jean Zimmerman offers the reader a well-written, well-researched and vastly entertaining glimpse into what life would have been like for the very wealthy during the gilded age of the late 19th century. Although the piece is fictional, Zimmerman does an interesting job of mixing real historical characters amid her fictional creations. This was a terrific read if you like historical fiction, a wickedly enjoyable plot and compelling characters. For me the whodunit element was the least satisfying, although it did allow the author to compare what we might consider "savage" behavior to more conventional societal customs that could also be considered savage.

When the story begins, the hero, Hugo Delegate, is waiting to be arrested for the murder of a long-time acquaintance, Beverly Willets, a gentleman of his class. Hugo narrates the tale in flashbacks to his lawyers, Hummel and Howe, who actually did exist. The fabulously wealthy Delegate family – they travel in their own private train – are touring the western United States. While in Virginia City, they stumble across a side show act that features "Savage Girl," an eighteen-year old who was a feral child reputed to have been raised by wolves. The parents, Freddy and Anna Maria, who insist that their children call them by their first names, fancy themselves progressives, and are fascinated about the challenge of educating and "taming" this young woman, and introducing her to society. They manage to spirit her away from the proprietor of the show, and after a series of misadventures, add her to their traveling household, which also includes a transgender Zuni and a Chinese maid-companion for Anna Maria. The family also includes the precocious younger son, Nicky.

Hugo, a sensitive medical student who suffers from some mental affliction that causes him to faint and experience blackouts, is of course fascinated by and attracted to Savage Girl, and is the family member who actually understands her the best. He is the one who is quickest to note that she can read and write, and is generally the first to notice her achievements as well as her peculiarities. Chillingly, he also notices that young men who pay attention to her seem to end up viciously murdered.

As the author explores the Pygmalion theme of turning the savage girl into a young lady welcome into the finest homes, she also explores the disconnect between the rigid social system and the seamy underside of society. Even our hero Hugo confesses his own entry into occasional depravity. Murder victim Willets was a thoroughly unlikable scoundrel who managed to be perfectly comfortable in the drawing rooms of the rich while also behaving like a total cad. Hugo was increasingly jealous of the attention Willets paid to Savage Girl: enough to commit murder?

Savage Girl herself is fascinating: brilliant, talented, with a strong moral code that may not be compatible with the society she now inhabits. As her history unfolds in the narrative, I found myself rooting for her more, even as she became more unbelievable as a character.

I suspect that most readers will find SAVAGE GIRL's end to be very satisfying –the ultimate resolution to the mystery seems a little far-fetched given the intelligence and abilities of the major characters – but that was a minor defect in an otherwise wonderful read.

§ Phyllis Onstad has been a writer, editor, civil servant, teacher and voracious reader. She currently lives in the California wine country.

Reviewed by Phyllis Onstad, May 2015

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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