Lawrence, Margaret. Novels of Historical Suspense: Hearts and Bones, Blood Red Roses and The Burning Bride
The Burning Bride is the third historical mystery about Massachusetts midwife Hannah Trevor, and it is exquisite. Margaret Lawrence writes the kind of symphonic prose that reverberates so loudly as you read it that it leaves you with no choice but to go back and re-read passages over and over again. Not for clarity--but to meander and experience the pure beauty of its subtleties.
As Lawrence tells a heart-wrenching tale of desperate murder borne from poverty and disillusion, she infuses her narrative with wondrous metaphors that work on many levels. She describes women's work of spinning, weaving, and quilting which mirror the complicated subtext of history, the murder mystery itself, and Hannah Trevor's agile and sorely-tested mind.
The Burning Bride completes a trilogy of lyrical books full of dark violence, searing sexual reality, and a refreshing female point-of-view of the post-Revolutionary War history. Her first, Heart and Bones, introduced almost all of the major characters who comprise all three books. In her first mystery, the motif of hearts and bones reappears countless times as the hard circumstances of Hannah's life unfolds. As the story evolves, the suspenseful outcome builds as humanity struggles with despair and the murderer with madness. Although, Heart and Bones could easily stand alone-the three books together resemble the journey that Hannah goes through as she strives for an independence that can thrive along with her love for Major Daniel Josselyn, their daughter Jennet, and her uncle's family, the Markhams.
All three books combine a compelling plot entwined around a finely etched picture of Hannah and the women of a newly formed country. Lawrence also does justice to the men who have returned from a Revolutionary War that has ravaged their country, bodies, minds, and hearts. The books will resonate long after Hannah has solved the murders.
Just as in Heart and Bones, Lawrence effectively weaves the stark realities of surviving a harsh winter in Upper Massachusetts (Maine) and living as a woman in the late eighteenth century in her third visit there in The Burning Bride. Like the first and second novel, Blood Red Roses, the author profiles Hannah, a 38-year-old midwife who has experienced the despair of loosing three children to diphtheria, being abandoned by her Tory husband, and having an illegitimate child. The character of independent midwife Hannah is contrasted with Charlotte Josselyn, the sickly English lady of the village; Hannah's Aunt Julia Markham, the prosperous millowner's wife; steady Dolly Lamb, the tavern keeper's wife, Daniel Josselyn's rich and eccentric Aunt Sibylla, and the other women of Rufford, Maine who illuminate all too clearly the dreary choices women had two centuries ago.
In all three novels, there is at least one horrible murder that places Hannah herself in some kind of jeopardy as politics and social conventions conspire to steal her hard won independence. The complicated villains--from wealthy and conniving Magistrate Hamilton Siwall to coldly, calculating and deadly Sheriff Marcus Tapp remain on your mind like grease on skin. The murderers in all three books are all more sympathetic than the insidious cast of greedy men misusing their municipal powers.
Please try to read these mysteries in order for their full impact and enjoyment. And linger in the language.
Leane M. Ellis, November 9, 1998.
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library - This page last updated 11/10/98 - lme.