The Midnight Bargain by C.L. PolkMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Love needs to be free or else it's just ownership.
This book was one of the entries in the 2020 competition “Canada Reads.” As a result, I waited a long, long time for my turn for a library copy. The author lives here in my city and I wish I could invite them for coffee.
This is a world of magic, with the intricate society of Jane Austen. Women with sorcery abilities are fitted with a collar upon marriage to protect their unborn children from spirit possession, but this also suppresses the woman's magical abilities. Men control the keys to the collars and, of course, see no reason to change the way of things. Sound familiar? Feels familiar to any woman who doesn't want to get married or have children. Or wants to fully develop her talents and be a mother.
Beatrice desires magic more than anything. Meeting Ianthe makes her decision difficult, because she wants him too. But she can't face years in a collar, even for the man she adores. This is her struggle—to use her abilities without getting caught and to wrest control of her life out of her father's hands. If she can save her family's future & fortunes, so much the better. How many women have been pulled in multiple directions trying to please everyone else, even those people who just want to use her and don't care about her aspirations?
This is Margaret Atwood lite. Mx. Polk must have read The Handmaid's Tale. This is not quite so harrowing, but I found it very emotionally engaging. Possibly because I've been renegotiating this aspect of my own life. I find myself surprised that this novel isn't identified as young adult, but that label bamboozles me a bit.
Well worth the wait. I will definitely read more by this author.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment