There are a
million and one reasons why OLIVIA TWIST is everything I hang my bookish hat
on.
“That small
inner voice that most women ignore because they’re too concerned with living
the life others expect."
“With Jack’s
presence, the room brightened as if several more candelabras followed him into
that room. A smile that seemed to originate deep in Olivia’s chest stretched
her lips without her consent.”
It is
everything a book experience SHOULD BE.
It is everything LIFE should be. It is a gaslit Victorian carousel of
pickpockets and villains, rickety pubs, railing danger and clandestine meetings
with handbrushes that send tingles to your toes and harrowing meetings on
London Bridge. Olivia Twist marries a
well known trope while finding footing in a dazzling new world. Though not fantastical as it is rooted deep
in perfectly-researched Victorian London, the heart-pounding feeling you get as
the curtain is pulled back on its colourful universe makes you feel you are
stepping into another world. It is my
favourite type of read.
It takes
you into a place of nostalgia while offering a unique tug into a world at once
familiar and surprising. It elicits all
manner of giggles and gasps and blanket-gripping tension as you think you know
how it will end, but you are not quite sure. It reminds you why you love
reading in the first place.
Olivia Twist
finds a brilliant balance between source material novel and famous adaptation and adds another
layer to this delicious cake. Cameos from the book like Monks and Fagin are
paired with the sheer heart behind the musical that introduced many of us to Dickens
(the musical, it should be said, is a gateway drug). And while the book is
gifted with subtle lovely nods to red roses and mornings whose sunshine you want
to buy and bottle, it springboards into its own realm of adventure.
Basically,
if you love Oliver Twist—in any
form---you have come to the right party.
If you love Dickens, you have come to the right party. If you love
cross-dressing female heroines, you have come to the right party.
If you love
ROMANCE that will strangle you breath and pulse your heart into a gallop from
the first unexpected meeting between two people who used to know each other (
one knowing a little more about one than the other), then you have found a virtual
literary rager.
A heroine
of agency and heart who reminded me a lot of Wonder Woman for some reason (
weird contemporary link, I know ); but like WW, Olivia has a kind heart, even if
you never want to run into a bout of fisticuffs with her. Like WW, Olivia would see a baby and melt,
taste ice cream and melt, care of her elderly guardian by day playing the
winsome socialite while sneaking out be-wigged to help a band of orphans at
night.
It is this perfect
balance of scrappy and sophisticated that pairs a wonderful example of the complexity
of women. To be strong, Langdon asserts, does not mean shrugging out of femininity.
Likewise, to enjoy finesse and have a caring maternal view does not undermine
strength.
“She
blinked up at him and he was Dodger again. The rough-and-tumble street kid
with the heart of gold.”
Then there’s
Dodger who is at once sweet cinnamon roll of vulnerability and savvy, scrappy
pickpocket late of Fagin’s influence. He
is our guide to the underworld while, like Olivia, balancing a life of high social
standing and finding it a bit like a sweater with sleeves too long for him.
While I was
delightfully on the edge of my seat to reacquaint myself with well known
characters against a well known canvas in a new backdrop, I think the most
surprising aspect of the novel for me was its amazing portrayal of sacrifice:
something I was not expecting. It is
here that the subtle and deft touch of faith is interwoven within a compelling world
at large. If your soul is not strangled
in breath-gulps by the end ---by either the beautiful writing or the sob
inducing choice one is willing to make in the spirit of true love—then go sit
in a corner with a lump of black coal.
Oh! And the
writing? See, the writing. Friends, sometimes a book springboards to life
because its sizzles and sparks with the author’s heart. You can feel the author’s passion through the
page. This is one of those books. Reading this I felt I had found new fictional
friends, yes, but also a kindred spirit in the pen behind the page. In OLIVIA TWIST, Langdon’s obvious love for
this world of story plays fast and loose to win us completely. It’s her gift.
It’s an act of sharing. This passion is
a portal for gorgeously lyrical writing that at turns grips and surprises.
“Haze draped
the skyline of the city like the oozing, yellow center of a stale egg” (I mean,
come on! It whiffs of Dickens but with an originality of its own)
“Peels of
fog slithered and curled over the cobbles.” ( COME ON!)
“Their
skirts sweeping against the cobblestones like a thousand whispers” (because
consonance is the spice of life. Like
Dickens before her, Langdon’s prose begs to be read aloud)
With all the thanks to Blink YA for the review copy of an anticipated book that shattered my expectations and winnowed its way to my FOREVER READ SHELF
2 comments:
Swoonalicious review, Rach xo
Sounds worth checking out!
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