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THE GARDENS OF THE DEAD
by William Brodrick
Viking, September 2006
336 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0670034983


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

William Brodrick's first novel, THE SIXTH LAMENTATION, was a bestseller in England and a Richard and Judy pick, which is a little like being chosen for Oprah's book club. Hitting the jackpot with a first novel is hard on any author. The pressures of deadlines and high expectations often combine to make the writing of the second book a difficult and self-conscious proposition.

THE GARDENS OF THE DEAD seems to be a victim of this type of sophomore slump. While it deals with some of the same themes as its predecessor and is written in fluid prose, it's not nearly as compelling as LAMENTATION.

Father Anselm, the monk-detective of the earlier novel, was once a junior barrister in the same chambers as Elizabeth Glendinning. Many years later, Elizabeth dies of natural causes, but before she does, she leaves Anselm a key to a safety deposit box and an address. She instructs him to go to the address and open the box in the event of her death.

Partly through following Elizabeth's instructions and partly through interviewing people from her past, Anselm pieces together the mystery. The story hinges on the long-ago trial of a man named Graham Riley, someone Elizabeth and Anselm once defended against charges of being a pimp. During that trial, George Bradshaw, a chief witness for the prosecution, left the courtroom rather than answer a question that Anselm put to him, resulting in Riley's acquittal.

Now Elizabeth is reaching back from beyond the grave in an attempt to bring Riley to justice. Anselm manages to find Bradshaw, who is now homeless and suffering from short-term memory loss. With his help and with much difficulty, Anselm unravels the many secrets he believes Elizabeth intended him to uncover.

There are problems with GARDENS OF THE DEAD that a good editor should have caught. The narrative is divided between the voices of Anselm, George, Riley, Riley's wife, Elizabeth herself and her son Nick. These six points of view swamp the story, which moves back and forward in time, expanding some scenes more than necessary while collapsing others in need of more detail. These complications in narrative strategy don't serve the plot well, and the book demands a close reading if the reader hopes to keep track of the sequence of events.

There's so much heavily portentous imagery in the story that it's hard for the Christian reader not to trip over the symbolism. The horn beeps three times (the rooster crowing for St. Peter), there's a portrait of Simon of Cyrene on one character's wall (the man who carried the cross for Christ, representing the willingness to assume others' burdens), there are multiple communion ceremonies performed with toast and hot chocolate, and so on and on. In fact, the symbolism is so thick that it proves to be a distraction rather than offering resonance to the story.

My biggest problem, though, was with the premise. Why would all of these people cooperate so fully in carrying out Elizabeth's wishes? And why, if righting this injustice was so important to her, would she leave its execution to chance meetings and random interactions? Wouldn't a woman this intelligent have simply given the facts to the person she entrusted to make things right?

In spite of all that, there are some rewards here for the patient reader. The meditations on the conflicts between morality and family loyalty are nicely done, and Brodrick's finely detailed portrait of the darker side of London make the book worth the price of admission.

Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, June 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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