Book Club #1: Caroline's Heart by Austin Chant

My pick for our first book club is Caroline’s Heart by Austin Chant. I’m going to say a bit here about what I thought about the book then open things up to Selina and Karen (and anyone else) to give their thoughts.

I picked this book because I adored Chant’s novel, Peter Darling. What made Peter Darling so startlingly good for me, I think, was that it felt as though Chant had finally unearthed the beating heart of the Peter Pan story. Although there were elements of Peter Pan I’ve always liked, it had never really felt like a fully successful, satisfying story to me. Peter Darling transformed that. For the first time, Pan’s combined fierceness and somewhat incomprehensible vulnerability made complete sense to me.

So, does Caroline’s Heart live up to that remarkable debut?

I think it does  - I greatly enjoyed Caroline’s Heart, devouring it two sittings (with a testy day of work in between). I adored the first two-thirds of the book. The last part is good too with a satisfying ending, but for me, it was the first two-thirds that really sang. (Now that I’ve typed that sentence, it bothers me that it sounds like a criticism of the last third, when it’s intended more as a compliment to the first two-thirds…)

Our MCs are Cecily, a witch, who has been weaving a complex resurrection spell for the last five years to bring her lover back from the dead, and Roy, a gentle cowboy looking for a place for himself in an uncaring world.  The setting is an alternate, magical Wild West with witchcraft and gun-slingers existing side by side. Chant paints this world with deft and vivid strokes. Take the scene where Cecily first enters—opening a magic door into the stable in which Roy is working. It’s beautifully done and wonderfully atmospheric.

Roy first notices straw stirring, then: 

A coil of soft heat, like a cat’s tail, brushes the back of his neck.

This small oddness intensifies:

…the air pushes around him like a hot bath…

And intensifies, becoming thicker, hotter, till it’s “dizzying, past intolerable”: 

Then the door cracks inward, and the pressure goes all at once. The air left behind is cold and thin and smells of flowers.

Roy sags against the wall, shivering and staring, as the witch steps through.

She moves like a deer, dainty and aloof…

Chant’s style is a wonderful combination of lyrical and economical. No over-writing here. The descriptions of Cecily’s spell-making are particularly wonderful. 

Cecily’s grief is powerful in the first part of the book, and if I have any criticism at all, it feels perhaps a little too easily resolved – but was I unsatisfied by the resolution? No, I was well-pleased; a happy reader.

This is a very different story from Peter Darling, but there are similar themes and motifs.  Once again we have two outsider, lonely MCs who find unexpected happiness together. Once again, there is a sense of almost intolerably high prices paid for the happiness that is ultimately won. Death is faced down; grievous wounds borne.

Since this is meant to be a discussion rather than a monologue, I’ll stop hogging now and open up to comments.

Karen, Selina: what did you think?

SK: Well, Jo, you summed it up so beautifully! As ever, a tough act to follow. ;) 

I actually did not enjoy Peter Darling as much as everyone else did. Which is not to say I disliked it--I enjoyed it a lot. But reading even just your description, Jo, I know I didn't feel that kind of passion for and connection to the book that so many other readers did. I almost wonder if it was a case of too-high expectations. I did love Chant's first book, Coffee Boy, a heck of a lot, though, so it was with mixed feelings that I dove into Caroline's Heart.

And I think I have a new favorite. Something about Roy was so pure and so easy. His wasn't a story of survival against all odds or a complicated background. There are dramatic elements to his past, but he doesn't wear them like some characters do. I think it's a great lesson for us writers, that sometimes a character can just be. Roy has ambitions, but he's not out to conquer the world. I loved his simplicity; it reminded me of the protagonist of J.L. Merrow's Muscling Through. Not exactly the same kind of character, but there's a commonality.

I also loved Cecily's... I'm struggling to find the perfect word for it, but let's just say aloofness towards Roy for much of the book. Yes, she was still grieving, but it was more than that, as we saw towards the end. She chose to retreat from the world, or not see it as it was, which I think so many of us do. I think her harshness, while exactly what the story needed, was a risk, because that kind of thing can turn some romance readers off. But Chant handled it beautifully--as he did pretty much every element in the book. 

The writing, as you say, was expertly balanced. I had a bit of author envy, have to say. And the rules of the magic in this world--something I always pay close attention to--made sense and served the story. I don't think it was too easily resolved, but I will say, if I have one criticism, is that I wanted a little more to the romance. I can't go into why to avoid spoilers, but I would have liked to live with them as a couple for a while longer, whether before the climax or after it.

But, really, a very minor issue. Better to leave us wanting more, as they say. Chant is on fire, and I hope everyone picks up all three of his books.