Maria McCann: As meat loves salt

By SARAH McRAE*

This sweaty, fleshy epic of obsessive love, violence, abuse and political tumult is set in 17th-century England. It is the twisted tale of the dazed, confused and violent Jacob Cullen.

Trapped in the English underclass, Jacob is a naive servant boy who turns his hands to murder, rape, and war. While a soldier in Cromwell's forces, he meets Christopher Ferris, who offers love and money if Jacob can change his wicked ways. He entices Jacob to join his planned utopian community. But Jacob is a most disagreeable chap. Urged on by the uncontrolled murmurings of his internal despotic "voice," he struggles to match the refined behaviour of the middle-class Ferris and his genteel band of followers, who seek a better, more principled life.

While the violence of the times may excuse Jacob's brutish behaviour, his repeated vicious doings are not a pleasant read. And he seems a difficult character to work with. First-time author Maria McCann tries to capture Jacob's transformation from seemingly simple-minded servant boy to shrewd and sophisticated thinker. But the metamorphosis is hardly credible.

What is interesting about this tale is the possible insight into 17th-century Britain: the plight of the underclasses, the violent climate surrounding the English revolution, the extreme risk faced by those in same-sex couplings, and Ferris' hopes of successfully occupying public land in the hope of a better life for common people. But there is a paucity of real historical detail, making it hard to know where fact stops and fiction starts.

Flamingo

$34.95

* Sarah McRae is a Wellington reviewer.