Illuminations

by Gillian Polack

Rose is dedicated, troubled and on the move. She is an Australian medievalist on sabbatical in modern France. Most of her attention is focused on her research, on buying books, and on the odd behavior of her boyfriend. She finds an inexplicable manuscript that tells the story of Ailinn and Guenloie, two women who lived in Arthurian Britain. Ailinn is determined to solve the world's problems and Guenloie searches for success, romance, and her father. Rose's world parallels theirs. And theirs is about to come to an agonizing close. "The way the past illuminates the present; the way in which human lives throughout the ages illuminate an unchanging, yet always complex, human nature; the way in which art illuminates life, and vice these are some of the concerns at the heart of this very fine novel. Yet it is much more than it is a journey deep into the heart of Arthurian myth, of the numinous, and of the human soul. What's more, it is most readable, and layered in a most intriguing and mysterious manner, reminiscent of A.S. Byatt's 'Possession'." -Sophie Masson author of the Laylines Trilogy

Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Gillian is a writer and historian, currently living in Canberra, Australia. She intends to count the books in her library soon, when they stop falling on her and otherwise intimidating her.

She was given the 2020 A Bertram Chandler Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction.

Reviews

[Gillian]

How can I review my own book. All I can say is that I had a whale of a time writing it.

[Elizabeth Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: The author is a friend but I have done my best to give an unbiased review.
Rose is an Australian medievalist on sabbatical in France. She discovers a strange manuscript that tells the tale of Ailinn and Guenloie, two women living in Arthurian Britain. As Ailinn and Guenloie seek to discover and overcome the evil threatening their world, Rose is preoccupied with her research and the strange behaviour of her boyfriend.

This is a Russian doll kind of story, beginning with the discovery of Rose's letters home, then moving back and forward between Rose's first-person account of her sabbatical and her third-person translation of Ailinn & Guenloie's quest. Despite this, the two main stories don't share obvious parallels so much as undercurrents the reader needs to dive for. I am not well versed in the tales of Arthur or the world of historians, so there were times I felt I was missing some of these undercurrents and some of the jokes. But I caught enough to appreciate it was a tale about the way small deeds and small lives can overcome great evil--often more effectively than flashy and powerful lives. It's a very feminist novel, commenting on how those small lives are often overwritten by those with power. Arthur and his knights aren't shown in a very favourable light.

Illuminations is definitely at the literary end of fantasy. Magic is portrayed in the matter-of-fact way of legends. It is slow-paced and it took me a while to get into the story. It was the characters that eventually drew me in. They are complex, with definite moods and their own motivations, and I could see bits of people I knew in them. However, it takes a while to get to know them. The book switches often between perspectives in the beginning and it wasn't until the switches slowed down and Ailinn & Guenloie had finished their time in Arthur's court that I began to settle into the story.

I don't feel this is the strongest of Gillian's novels. However, if you like gentle character studies mixed with Celtic legend, Illuminations is well worth looking into.


This review first appeared at Earl Grey Editing.