trespass

winner of the orange prize
was proudly printed above the author's name valerie martin
so being a sucker for a good book i bought it
even though i had no idea what for or where the orange prize is awarded
of course she is the winner for a previous book not this one
but the back cover read well and appealed to me so i committed to it
there are 4 main characters in the story who share the limelight
chloe is an artist living in the country outside new york
her current project is producing an illustrated version of wuthering heights
devoted husband brendan is a university professor of history
and is similarly writing a book about 13th century cruasder frederick
only child toby is at university in new york finding his way in life
he falls in love with salome she of croatian descent
who has a family with a story to tell of the balkans war
her father is a fisherman relocted to louisiana
her mother it turns out though presumed dead is living in italy
the book flits between times, places, people, events
there is the backdrop of the war in iraq that gets the authors attention
and so there seems to be a lot going on at any one point
it hangs together quite well actually
i enjoyed a bit of exposure to the 13th century crusades
and an insight into heathcliff's story in wuthering heights
mostly though it was salome's mother's story that was the most effective
a very sad tale of the brutality of the balkans war of late last century
though i'm not sure why this story was fully contained in italics
as if the reader needed to be reminded this was a story within a story
a minor point but it seemed we were being asked to remember this point
when for me it was probably the strongest part of the book
i'm not sure where the title came from
there is a sub-plot of a poacher on the couple's country property
though the violence affected on salome's mother would warrant the title
i have a feeling the author had all this and more in mind
when she chose the title and built a story around it
hint: the book that won the orange prize is called property
this one is quite a good read really
though it ends quite suddenly
and with a few unresolved issues
i'd recommend it