The Crooked Path

Joubert’s ambitious latest (after Child of the River) follows South African doctor Lettie Louw from her teenage years during World War II through the early 1980s. An unattractive teen, she falls in love with her friend’s older brother, De Wet Flourie, and, when he chooses one of her best friends instead, she is left heartbroken. After another unrequited crush, she decides to give up on men and throw herself into her studies. It is as a doctor that she meets Italian immigrant Marco Romanelli, a patient suffering lingering mental and physical effects from the war years. In time, the two are married and have two daughters. There are moments when the story is spellbinding; the section on Marco’s experiences in Italy during the war is heartbreaking; the story of Lettie and Marco’s romance and experience with their daughter’s illness is also well-crafted. However, the attempt to cover so much chronological time results in a choppy, uneven tale. Large periods of time are summarized in a few paragraphs, and secondary characters have little development. This expansive novel suffers for attempting to cover so much ground. (Nov.)