cover image Empire Under Glass

Empire Under Glass

Julian Anderson. Faber & Faber, $23.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-571-19884-9

Vestiges of the British Empire in the 20th century--from an Ontario town to Wallawalhalla, a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean--serve as the richly drawn settings for this charming stroll of a novel. The story opens with octogenarian narrator Viola Bagg AWOL from her retirement home in North Carolina. Now trapped in an air bubble within a pond as a result of a madcap aerial adventure, Viola ruminates upon her long life. Born in Wallawalhalla with two left feet, Viola, as a child, loses her mother, who dies mysteriously, and is estranged from her father. Finding the provincial life of her new homeland of southern Ontario too confining, she moves as soon as possible, with her best friend Jenny, back to the island, where she works as a secretary at an archeological dig. On Wallawalhalla, Viola rooms with Jenny's cousin, the handsome, volatile Roddy Borders, whose cowed wife, Emma, shows signs of being physical abused. Eventually, Viola falls in love with Harry Bagg, an archeologist in search of lost Atlantis. When Emma finally kills her viciously abusive husband, Viola helps her dispose of the body. Harry, in fact, believes that Viola has killed Borders, but that doesn't stop him from proposing marriage to her. The off-balance union dissolves after 10 years and one daughter, Marjorie. In time, Viola makes it to the rest home, where she finally learns how to have fun. As the narrative meanders through the 20th century and across the globe, Viola maintains the humorous, wise voice of a woman undergoing a lifelong coming-of-age. (May)