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Precious Moon
Precious Moon is both a heart-wrenching and heart-warming tale of loss and disappearance, escape and discovery, grief and recovery.
Set in 1982, an Oxford doctor and British graduate find themselves irresistibly drawn to living in the same remote Andean village in Argentina. While the country is torn apart by its own Dirty War the brief, yet bitter, Falklands War breaks out.
Ignoring their government’s advice, Alex and Katie refuse to leave the country which has suddenly become both their refuge and the enemy.
Friendships are strained and strengthened as the innocent disappear and are exiled, each unexplained loss resonating with Alex and Katie’s own tragic pasts.
Will the events of the present enable them to come to terms with their own histories, and provide hope for the future?
Set in 1982, an Oxford doctor and British graduate find themselves irresistibly drawn to living in the same remote Andean village in Argentina. While the country is torn apart by its own Dirty War the brief, yet bitter, Falklands War breaks out.
Ignoring their government’s advice, Alex and Katie refuse to leave the country which has suddenly become both their refuge and the enemy.
Friendships are strained and strengthened as the innocent disappear and are exiled, each unexplained loss resonating with Alex and Katie’s own tragic pasts.
Will the events of the present enable them to come to terms with their own histories, and provide hope for the future?
340 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2012
39 people want to read
About the author
Siobhan Pratt
2 books2 followersI grew up in a small farming town in South Africa, attended a girls boarding high school there, and then moved to Johannesburg. After graduating from the University of Witwatersrand I worked as a book rep for five years, where I learnt a lot of the ins and outs of the traditional publishing world.
At the turn of the century I moved to the UK, and began writing in earnest whilst alternating between care work and travelling. In 2003 I got a job teaching English in Japan, and spent a few wonderful years learning the language, playing the Japanese drums and eating sushi.
I met my husband paddling along the Mekhong Delta in Vietnam, and returned to the UK to marry him. We have two small children, and enjoy our quiet life in Oxfordshire.
Precious Moon is my first novel. It took me seven years to write and research, and I enjoyed every moment of that process.
http://www.facebook.com/siobhanpratta...
At the turn of the century I moved to the UK, and began writing in earnest whilst alternating between care work and travelling. In 2003 I got a job teaching English in Japan, and spent a few wonderful years learning the language, playing the Japanese drums and eating sushi.
I met my husband paddling along the Mekhong Delta in Vietnam, and returned to the UK to marry him. We have two small children, and enjoy our quiet life in Oxfordshire.
Precious Moon is my first novel. It took me seven years to write and research, and I enjoyed every moment of that process.
http://www.facebook.com/siobhanpratta...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 18, 2012
Where do I begin? As soon as I began to read this book I was instantly pulled into the storyline and transported to the characters world, thus blocking out daily life around me as if my mind had been plucked from my body. Three days I spent transfixed at the computer screen with very few breaks, all the while so intensely wrapped up in the captivating storyline which I was reluctant to leave for even a minute. The description was utterly realistic as the words touched upon all senses, so that I could almost hear the sounds, smell and feel the foreign lands that oozed vibrancy and alien culture with such authenticity; it was as if I was there. I loved one particular line ‘…gurgling and tumbling’ which was just so beautiful that I hung on every word and felt every word that the author had used. I instantly fell in love with the main character and as the story unfolded, I became more and more intrigued by her family history, her life and most of all her feelings and emotions. This was what captivated me the most and how I was drawn emotionally into the story, with the sheer depth of realism in the characters feelings and thoughts that made it so personal, and quite a brave and challenging thing for the author to attempt. The twist and turns, secrets and hidden mystery had me sitting on the edge of my seat and I was constantly surprised, feeling compelled to read on with the fast-pace of the unfolding storyline that was full of action and drama; relentless in momentum. The political side of this story or rather its ‘backbone’ was what I found to be most intriguing and very engrossing, about the Argentinean civil war and their beliefs and struggles and fights for freedom, equality and revolutionary ideals. When it came to the later chapters accounting Nicolas’ time spent within the prison with the ‘disappeared’ captives, I could not help but take the seriousness and horror into account, as to describe any inhuman act is hard but this was extremely soul touching and that did tug at the heartstrings, and was completely thought-provoking to the core. I was confused at times by those feelings and emotions from Kate, but also I found her in many ways a character whom I could relate to and understand especially when it regarded loss and the loss of a loved one, and I personally feel that any reader who has lost someone will certainly be drawn into the storyline and empathize with it greatly. I also loved the unfolding relationship between Kate and Alex, which was both complicated and simple at the same time and which again left me emotionally entwined within the story at times, completely attached to these two unique fictional characters. This novel shone a light on people’s emotions both good and bad and really delved into feelings that often in life one can conceal or hide. Death, the meaning of life and how we look upon life itself are all very strong, impacting topics to discuss but was a risk that the author took to produce the most spine chilling read that cannot fail to touch any readers’ soul and open a window into your heart. I was taken on an emotional rollercoaster of a journey of the heart and one that I have cried at, laughed at and thought most deeply about hence impacting upon my own thoughts and perceptions upon life. I never thought a novel would be so truth-drawing and such a compelling, exciting, captivating read, by an author who has completely surpassed herself as a truly great writer. What separates a good writer from a truly great one, is someone who has the courage to write from the heart and Siobhan’s book is something special. My favorite book of the year and one that will be forever etched within my memory; just stunning!
May 9, 2012
To be fair, I did write this book, so I do love it. I loved the whole process of writing Precious Moon, creating and getting to know my characters, letting them speak to me, allowing them to lead me through the story.
I loved researching Precious Moon. With time on my side, as I had no publishing deadline to meet, I took seven years pouring over research materials and historical documents. I wanted the details of the backgrounds, the Wars, the social climate, the geography, the fauna and flora to be spot on.
I had a strong need to do justice to the real people who had been affected by the Dirty War and the Falklands War in Argentina, and life in 1960s Kenya. I wanted to colour each landscape accurately, so that the reader can strongly feel what it is to be in the Andes, or a busy Argentinean city, or in the African savannah, or in Oxford.
Precious Moon started off as a story about displacement, taking in the the affect and anguish of unsolved disappearances on those left behind. It is a story about ordinary people surviving in extraordinary times, seeing a way into the future of their own lives, and most especially the future of the country they are fiercely loyal towards. There are strong themes of escape and exile, loss and discovery, hope and recovery.
Alex is a young Oxford doctor and Katie a graduate, both Brits living in a remote Andean village in Argentina, when the Falklands War breaks out. Even though they're advised to leave as hostilities between their host country and home counntry increase, they choose to stay in Argentina, where they are now seen as the enemy.
Their relationships with their Argeninean friends are tested and strained as events escalate and each person tries to find their own place of quiet, a corner of the world where they can find peace from their pasts.
After Precious Moon was published, I read the book for enjoyment, and for what I could take from it, as a reader would, and found myself as involved and intrigued as if I'd read it for the first time.
I hope each of you enjoys reading Precious Moon as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I loved researching Precious Moon. With time on my side, as I had no publishing deadline to meet, I took seven years pouring over research materials and historical documents. I wanted the details of the backgrounds, the Wars, the social climate, the geography, the fauna and flora to be spot on.
I had a strong need to do justice to the real people who had been affected by the Dirty War and the Falklands War in Argentina, and life in 1960s Kenya. I wanted to colour each landscape accurately, so that the reader can strongly feel what it is to be in the Andes, or a busy Argentinean city, or in the African savannah, or in Oxford.
Precious Moon started off as a story about displacement, taking in the the affect and anguish of unsolved disappearances on those left behind. It is a story about ordinary people surviving in extraordinary times, seeing a way into the future of their own lives, and most especially the future of the country they are fiercely loyal towards. There are strong themes of escape and exile, loss and discovery, hope and recovery.
Alex is a young Oxford doctor and Katie a graduate, both Brits living in a remote Andean village in Argentina, when the Falklands War breaks out. Even though they're advised to leave as hostilities between their host country and home counntry increase, they choose to stay in Argentina, where they are now seen as the enemy.
Their relationships with their Argeninean friends are tested and strained as events escalate and each person tries to find their own place of quiet, a corner of the world where they can find peace from their pasts.
After Precious Moon was published, I read the book for enjoyment, and for what I could take from it, as a reader would, and found myself as involved and intrigued as if I'd read it for the first time.
I hope each of you enjoys reading Precious Moon as much as I enjoyed writing it.
August 3, 2012
Siobhan Pratt’s Precious Moon tells of Katie, a wandering English girl lost in the Argentine highlands, who steps away from a bus crashed high in the mountains into another world. Alex, an English doctor working at a local clinic, comes to her aid and condescends to shelter Katie in his simple cabin until another bus comes to take her away. Katie speaks Spanish, so the first obstacle tourists have to understanding the lives of others does not prevent her from briefly becoming a part of the remote mountain community where she is stranded.
Siobhan’s colorful imagery puts readers into the village of San Julián and other Argentine locations, assuring the reader of the author’s eye for evocative detail.
…”Katie returned to the market place and spent the rest of the day ambling from stall to stall…. There were pyramids of bright balls of yarn beside swishing looms, and baskets piled high with freshly harvested fruit and vegetables. On one side of the market an old man poured his heart and soul into the complicated chords of his bandoneón while on the other side a youth plucked lazily at the strings of his mandolin…. One seller offered leather straps and stirrups, ropes and whips, while another displayed old dolls in mended frocks, toy cars and figurines of patron saints. Bottles of wine and olive oil, freshly baked biscuits, tasty empanadas and long reams of sausages were bargained for. Katie ran her hands along the red and blue threads of the ponchos, blankets, shawls and rugs old women in wide brimmed hats pointed out to her.”
…Their route took them directly through the towering gates of the Parque General San Martín, and they wound their way slowly along the leafy avenues and boulevards lined with palms and bananas. The towering Tipa trees arched overhead to form a cathedral like vault, dispersing mottled light like stained-glass windows onto the procession below.
Katie and Alex are withdrawn and distant people, troubled by the past, each wary of the other. Alex found that “…she could be so baffling. Katie was without doubt committed and caring, and she made no real demands, just went about laughing and smiling, yet she could be so distant, and at a whim want to be on her own, far away.”
As they come to trust and eventually love one another, they slowly reveal the anguish and regret that has usurped their lives. Siobhan allows these mishaps and the feelings that accompany them to come out tentatively, with the deliberation one would expect of damaged people reluctant to risk more pain, distrustful of strangers who would threaten their solitude or imperil their peace of mind. In time, they discover they each have sustained the same kind of loss.
Los Desaparecidos – if you do not know this Spanish word, you will learn about it in Precious Moon. In Siobhan’s story, desaparecidos are not just people made to disappear by the Argentine Junta of the 1980s; the word also is a metaphor that swathes memories at the heart of the terror and desperation of Katie and Alex. At the end of Chapter Three, we come upon the first suggestion of darkness ahead – with the mention of an Argentine prison.
“…The kind of place people are taken to for no reason with no trial and never return from. A place that has nothing to do with the almost non-existent judicial system and is run entirely by the neuroticism and sick pride of the Junta.”
According to the Wikipedia article on Forced Disappearance, the reign of political terror in Argentina in the 1980s resulted in the disappearance of tens of thousands of people who have never been found. Many are memorialized at sites like The Vanished Gallery and articles such as Los Desaparecidos. Tens of thousands more are reported to have disappeared from Chile, Columbia, El Salvador, and other countries of Central and South America during the decades of the 70s through the 90s. Political kidnapping, however, is not a monopoly of the Americas - the Wikipedia article lists countries around the world where political abductions are reported to have taken place. In Precious Moon, Siobhan Pratt gives the reader a chilling impression of how the unbridled violence of a despotic regime affects the personal lives of one Argentine family and the community in which they live.
Shortly, Katie learns what it means to be a British citizen deep inside Argentina when the British invade the Falkland Islands in 1982 and hundreds of Argentine soldiers and sailors are killed. The villagers of San Julián treat her and Alex as before, bringing them warm clothing when the weather turns, but now everything they do, especially travel, has a new consideration – what will be the attitude of governments. His embassy advises Alex to leave the country but he refuses, and Katie stays as well, complacent in her conviction that nothing much will happen and that she faces no imminent peril.
Chapter Nine bursts into action with Katie’s recounting the drama of the tragedy that has haunted her life for years and the relentless search that had driven her for so long. She leaves San Julián for a neighboring village, but events close in on her, forcing her to a decision. “…Katie knew what she had to do. She knew she had to go back and tell him the truth that nobody knew. The truth that haunted her dreams, plagued her days, dictated her actions. The horrible truth she hoped to escape from around every corner, or at least find a place where it did not exist. Where she could find a solace from the tragedy: a place of quiet.”
When Katie tells Alex about her childhood growing up in Kenya, we recall to the worlds of West with the Night and Out of Africa – savannah grasslands, Maasai nomads, puff adders.
…Acacia trees, long dry grass, rocks big and small, sand, and the odd fireball lily dotting the distant open grassland with specks of red. Birds, dung beetles, cicadas, probably baboons, monkeys, possibly leopard, definitely snakes. But no sign of people. …Off the path and around deeper thickets there were more animal spoor and neat narrow paths; small buck darted in and out of sight, a lonely fox slunk away in the distance, and as it got darker, a hyena cackled from far off. …Life in the Kenyan sixties was perhaps not unlike the Argentinean eighties, where around any corner, anyone or thing could be your enemy, anything or place could be filled with danger. Living in these times, and in these places, there were no assurances. You just lived, and you hoped.
The precious moon of the title begins in the tale of an old Maasai storyteller.
“...we, the Maasai, we regard the moon as la azizi. She is our precious moon.”
He paused. “Tamati.” It is finished.
Immediately the gathering began chatting all at once, congratulating the old man on his storytelling skills, admiring the moon, admonishing the sun, discussing the donkeys and enjoying the evening.
“Daddy,” Katie whispered. “I don’t know if I like that story, but I do think the moon is very pretty.”
“It’s a strange story,” he agreed, and followed her gaze upwards.
“Look, it's a precious moon tonight, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Just like you. You are my Precious Moon. My la azizi.”
Through all that comes after, the sight of the moon and its association with her father sustains Katie’s spirit.
“You forget that I’m not really British. I speak fluent Spanish. I was born in Africa.”
Micaela sighed. “Sometimes,” she began, “and I say this with love, sometimes I feel you have no idea who you are.”
To her surprise, Katie started crying.
“No, you’re wrong,” she managed to reply, choking past her tears. “I have remembered exactly who I am. I am my daddy’s Precious Moon.”
At the end of Siobhan's story, when Katie has changed so much, the meaning of the moon for her also has changed, and it now promises to be a light on a path to deeper understanding.
The moon was full and bright and beckoning. It dodged behind ethereal clouds and then re-emerged further along the night sky. Always moving, always waiting, witness and custodian of the world’s secrets. Only the brave would follow her, entreat her to reveal her hidden truths.
“It’s a Precious Moon,” he said.
...She did not answer straight away as she studied the disappearing path of the bright sphere that had guided her through the years and was now leading her once again, enticing her to follow. At last it wanted to share its secrets with her.
“A first novel is a thing of promise, full of hope for the future.” And when a reader has finished Precious Moon, he or she might ask wither now Siobhan Pratt? “You have us wondering, m’dere, what will you write next?” For surely she should continue telling us stories. Since Karen Blixen and Beryl Markham, we have not had much to read about colonials in Africa, but Siobhan Pratt has both the writing talent and personal experience to take up the mantle and carry on with her own tales of growing up and living in Africa. These tales already wriggle into her writing now; they need only be unleashed and set to roaming free across the savannahs of her next novel.
Siobhan’s colorful imagery puts readers into the village of San Julián and other Argentine locations, assuring the reader of the author’s eye for evocative detail.
…”Katie returned to the market place and spent the rest of the day ambling from stall to stall…. There were pyramids of bright balls of yarn beside swishing looms, and baskets piled high with freshly harvested fruit and vegetables. On one side of the market an old man poured his heart and soul into the complicated chords of his bandoneón while on the other side a youth plucked lazily at the strings of his mandolin…. One seller offered leather straps and stirrups, ropes and whips, while another displayed old dolls in mended frocks, toy cars and figurines of patron saints. Bottles of wine and olive oil, freshly baked biscuits, tasty empanadas and long reams of sausages were bargained for. Katie ran her hands along the red and blue threads of the ponchos, blankets, shawls and rugs old women in wide brimmed hats pointed out to her.”
…Their route took them directly through the towering gates of the Parque General San Martín, and they wound their way slowly along the leafy avenues and boulevards lined with palms and bananas. The towering Tipa trees arched overhead to form a cathedral like vault, dispersing mottled light like stained-glass windows onto the procession below.
Katie and Alex are withdrawn and distant people, troubled by the past, each wary of the other. Alex found that “…she could be so baffling. Katie was without doubt committed and caring, and she made no real demands, just went about laughing and smiling, yet she could be so distant, and at a whim want to be on her own, far away.”
As they come to trust and eventually love one another, they slowly reveal the anguish and regret that has usurped their lives. Siobhan allows these mishaps and the feelings that accompany them to come out tentatively, with the deliberation one would expect of damaged people reluctant to risk more pain, distrustful of strangers who would threaten their solitude or imperil their peace of mind. In time, they discover they each have sustained the same kind of loss.
Los Desaparecidos – if you do not know this Spanish word, you will learn about it in Precious Moon. In Siobhan’s story, desaparecidos are not just people made to disappear by the Argentine Junta of the 1980s; the word also is a metaphor that swathes memories at the heart of the terror and desperation of Katie and Alex. At the end of Chapter Three, we come upon the first suggestion of darkness ahead – with the mention of an Argentine prison.
“…The kind of place people are taken to for no reason with no trial and never return from. A place that has nothing to do with the almost non-existent judicial system and is run entirely by the neuroticism and sick pride of the Junta.”
According to the Wikipedia article on Forced Disappearance, the reign of political terror in Argentina in the 1980s resulted in the disappearance of tens of thousands of people who have never been found. Many are memorialized at sites like The Vanished Gallery and articles such as Los Desaparecidos. Tens of thousands more are reported to have disappeared from Chile, Columbia, El Salvador, and other countries of Central and South America during the decades of the 70s through the 90s. Political kidnapping, however, is not a monopoly of the Americas - the Wikipedia article lists countries around the world where political abductions are reported to have taken place. In Precious Moon, Siobhan Pratt gives the reader a chilling impression of how the unbridled violence of a despotic regime affects the personal lives of one Argentine family and the community in which they live.
Shortly, Katie learns what it means to be a British citizen deep inside Argentina when the British invade the Falkland Islands in 1982 and hundreds of Argentine soldiers and sailors are killed. The villagers of San Julián treat her and Alex as before, bringing them warm clothing when the weather turns, but now everything they do, especially travel, has a new consideration – what will be the attitude of governments. His embassy advises Alex to leave the country but he refuses, and Katie stays as well, complacent in her conviction that nothing much will happen and that she faces no imminent peril.
Chapter Nine bursts into action with Katie’s recounting the drama of the tragedy that has haunted her life for years and the relentless search that had driven her for so long. She leaves San Julián for a neighboring village, but events close in on her, forcing her to a decision. “…Katie knew what she had to do. She knew she had to go back and tell him the truth that nobody knew. The truth that haunted her dreams, plagued her days, dictated her actions. The horrible truth she hoped to escape from around every corner, or at least find a place where it did not exist. Where she could find a solace from the tragedy: a place of quiet.”
When Katie tells Alex about her childhood growing up in Kenya, we recall to the worlds of West with the Night and Out of Africa – savannah grasslands, Maasai nomads, puff adders.
…Acacia trees, long dry grass, rocks big and small, sand, and the odd fireball lily dotting the distant open grassland with specks of red. Birds, dung beetles, cicadas, probably baboons, monkeys, possibly leopard, definitely snakes. But no sign of people. …Off the path and around deeper thickets there were more animal spoor and neat narrow paths; small buck darted in and out of sight, a lonely fox slunk away in the distance, and as it got darker, a hyena cackled from far off. …Life in the Kenyan sixties was perhaps not unlike the Argentinean eighties, where around any corner, anyone or thing could be your enemy, anything or place could be filled with danger. Living in these times, and in these places, there were no assurances. You just lived, and you hoped.
The precious moon of the title begins in the tale of an old Maasai storyteller.
“...we, the Maasai, we regard the moon as la azizi. She is our precious moon.”
He paused. “Tamati.” It is finished.
Immediately the gathering began chatting all at once, congratulating the old man on his storytelling skills, admiring the moon, admonishing the sun, discussing the donkeys and enjoying the evening.
“Daddy,” Katie whispered. “I don’t know if I like that story, but I do think the moon is very pretty.”
“It’s a strange story,” he agreed, and followed her gaze upwards.
“Look, it's a precious moon tonight, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Just like you. You are my Precious Moon. My la azizi.”
Through all that comes after, the sight of the moon and its association with her father sustains Katie’s spirit.
“You forget that I’m not really British. I speak fluent Spanish. I was born in Africa.”
Micaela sighed. “Sometimes,” she began, “and I say this with love, sometimes I feel you have no idea who you are.”
To her surprise, Katie started crying.
“No, you’re wrong,” she managed to reply, choking past her tears. “I have remembered exactly who I am. I am my daddy’s Precious Moon.”
At the end of Siobhan's story, when Katie has changed so much, the meaning of the moon for her also has changed, and it now promises to be a light on a path to deeper understanding.
The moon was full and bright and beckoning. It dodged behind ethereal clouds and then re-emerged further along the night sky. Always moving, always waiting, witness and custodian of the world’s secrets. Only the brave would follow her, entreat her to reveal her hidden truths.
“It’s a Precious Moon,” he said.
...She did not answer straight away as she studied the disappearing path of the bright sphere that had guided her through the years and was now leading her once again, enticing her to follow. At last it wanted to share its secrets with her.
“A first novel is a thing of promise, full of hope for the future.” And when a reader has finished Precious Moon, he or she might ask wither now Siobhan Pratt? “You have us wondering, m’dere, what will you write next?” For surely she should continue telling us stories. Since Karen Blixen and Beryl Markham, we have not had much to read about colonials in Africa, but Siobhan Pratt has both the writing talent and personal experience to take up the mantle and carry on with her own tales of growing up and living in Africa. These tales already wriggle into her writing now; they need only be unleashed and set to roaming free across the savannahs of her next novel.
August 5, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed Siobhan Pratt’s debut novel and found the issues and emotions that is deals with extremely interesting and dealt with in depth without becoming boring. The intertwining of the personal stories of Alex and Katie, with the situation of unrest in Argentina at the time they were there is particularly well written and served to make the novel much richer and more enjoyable.
Both Alex and Katie are endearing characters with their own upsetting personal backstories which make them much stronger and more interesting characters. I particularly enjoyed Alex’s story when it came out and would have loved to have read more about it. The feeling of displacement that seems central to Katie’s character was really powerfully written and allowed her to be enjoyed more from a reader’s perspective. I also think Pratt did a wonderful job of crafting a landscape in Argentina which seems to suit these two, seemingly wandering lost souls.
The only thing that let it down slightly for me was the secondary plot line dealing with the Argentinian revolutionaries and Civil War, which although was written very well, didn’t interest me particularly and I felt more connection with the human interest and intrigue that surrounded the two foreign characters.
The novel ends on a note which definitely suggests there may be a sequel and I wouldn’t hesitate to give that a go if it were to be published.
Both Alex and Katie are endearing characters with their own upsetting personal backstories which make them much stronger and more interesting characters. I particularly enjoyed Alex’s story when it came out and would have loved to have read more about it. The feeling of displacement that seems central to Katie’s character was really powerfully written and allowed her to be enjoyed more from a reader’s perspective. I also think Pratt did a wonderful job of crafting a landscape in Argentina which seems to suit these two, seemingly wandering lost souls.
The only thing that let it down slightly for me was the secondary plot line dealing with the Argentinian revolutionaries and Civil War, which although was written very well, didn’t interest me particularly and I felt more connection with the human interest and intrigue that surrounded the two foreign characters.
The novel ends on a note which definitely suggests there may be a sequel and I wouldn’t hesitate to give that a go if it were to be published.
June 22, 2012
What a fantastic read! Easy to get into. This book was definitely well researched and I absolutely loved the historical facts, as I did not know a lot about Latin American politics. I chuckled at the beginning at the description of the luggage falling off, and I cried at the end! I love love love this book. Will there be a sequel? Please say yes!
September 23, 2016
A real hidden gem. I discovered it by searching for a book set in Argentina, and found something special.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews