Sometimes a story touches you and haunts your heart after you’ve laid a book down. For me, this is true of The Red House, a new novel by Mary Morris, the author of both highly regarded literary fiction and nonfiction. I had the good fortune to attend a book party for The Red House where Mary described the inspiration for her novel–what a gift! It’s always exciting and instructive to hear an author share the journey from transforming the wisp of an idea into a polished work of fiction.
For Mary, a chance encounter blossomed into a quest to find the deeper truth behind a forgotten story from World War II. From a true event hinted at in a cryptic plaque in a small courtyard in a small Italian town, a whole world emerged. The Red House is a moving exploration of the ways in which lives painstakingly woven together can easily unravel. In thinking about why it is such a compelling read, four strengths spring to mind:
A beating heart: Although the story focuses on Viola, a World War II survivor, we never meet her—she has mysteriously disappeared. While The Red House revolves around her absence, she is the novel’s beating heart. Only a gifted storyteller can weave a tale around a character who never appears physically but dominates it emotionally. Through Mary’s artful release of fragments of Viola’s background, readers come to know her and to understand her suffering. By the end of the novel, we can see the arc of her life and its inevitable progression.
A fiercely driven, flawed narrator: Viola’s story is pieced together over time by her daughter, Laura. As Viola’s story unfolds, so does Laura’s. We learn that Viola disappeared when Laura was 12 and that this childhood trauma drives the novel’s action. The path Laura follows is littered with the consequences of decisions she’s made largely in response to her childhood loss of her mother. Laura’s need to learn the truth, her vulnerability, and the steps she takes to shore up her life make her the perfect narrator for The Red House.
A beautifully constructed narrative: The Red House shifts back and forth in time, moving from Laura’s fractured present to Viola’s wartime experiences. By artfully interweaving several stories together, Mary Morris creates a strong, tense bond between mother and daughter that transcends time and place.
A bold embrace of universal themes: Abandonment, childhood trauma, how decisions, wise and unwise, shape a life, love and loss–all these themes emerge at different points in The Red House. Mary explores them unsparingly, yet with sympathy, and in doing so, she’s created a novel that invites readers to look at the impact of trauma and loss on their own lives. In the end, it’s the sense of loss echoing through The Red House that gives the novel its momentum and haunting strength.
Reflecting on how a novel’s tone and characters affect us can be so valuable as we craft our own stories. If you’re looking for a story with heart, be sure to seek out The Red House. Brava, Mary–write on!
