The Girls With No Names: Historical Novel About Wayward Girls

The Girls With No Names by Serena Burdick is the first book I've read that was published in 2020.  It's also my first digital review copy from Net Galley of the year.   I noticed a similarity to Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate which I liked very much and reviewed here. I was also drawn to Burdick's novel because it takes place in Inwood, a Manhattan neighborhood where I lived for four years in the late 20th century (though I should point out that the book takes place in the early 20th century.) Yet it was the reference to suffragettes  in the Goodreads description and the reference to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the publisher's publicity which caused me to decide that I needed to review it for this blog.  It sounded like this novel could be a locus for intersecting feminist concerns.   So I accepted the publisher's request.  My honest reactions to The Girls With No Names can be found in this review.

                           

Although the main protagonists are teens, I wouldn't describe The Girls With No Names as a YA novel.  This book deals with the girls' coming of age under dire circumstances which involve mature themes that may be disturbing to some readers.

I found thirteen year old Effie remarkably brave when she comes to believe that she needs to rescue her sister from an institution with a rather horrific reputation called the House of Mercy.

I was also impressed with a girl that Effie encounters at the House of Mercy known as Mable.  Mable's tragic experiences  before her arrival at this home for wayward girls are portrayed movingly in flashback chapters.

 The Girls With No Names turned out not to have a primary focus on women's suffrage. Still,  the book does include a real suffragette who is a minor character playing a pivotal role.  Her name is Inez Milholland.  I've linked her Wikipedia article because I think readers might want to know more about this woman activist. Milholland's Wikipedia article includes a public domain photo of her which I am reproducing below:

                          

 There are Romanii characters in The Girls With No Names.  Burdick tells us in her Afterword that they are called gypsies in the first person narratives taking place in 1913 in order to be consistent with usage in that period.  She is aware that Romani consider "gypsy" offensive, but Burdick isn't trying to offend. She just wants to be historically accurate. I was fascinated to learn from the Afterword that Burdick had discovered from her research that Romani really had camped in the Inwood area during this period.

 I mostly liked the way the Romani were shown, but I did think that one element in their portrayal was anachronistic.  Effie got a Tarot reading at their camp which she regarded as significant.  The interpretation of the cards that appeared in the reading was similar to current day Neo Pagan Tarot readers.  So I considered it doubtful that an early 20th century Romani would approach the cards that way.

Despite the critical comment in the above paragraph,  I identified with both Effie and Mable and considered The Girls With No Names a powerful work of fiction.                 

The Peddler of Wisdom: A Tale of A Village Revolt

I'm glad to be reviewing a historical fiction with a strong woman protagonist during women's history month.  I won a digital copy of The Peddler of Wisdom by Laura Matthias Bendoly in a giveaway on the Historical Fictionistas group on Goodreads.  The author sent it to me as a gift from Amazon, and this is my honest review.

                           

Central character Irène Guéri is a healer and a diviner who resides in Les Échelles, a fictional village in the south of 17th century France. Les Échelles was invaded by an army of  Sardinians led by Domenico, a tyrannical nobleman with strange obsessions that involved cruel practices.  When Domenico demanded that the villagers consult his alchemist/physician instead of Irène, I expected that she would become the victim of a witchcraft hysteria which were quite common in the 17th century.  It turned out that I was being too pessimistic.  While there were a few collaborators with the invaders,  most of the village wanted to resist Domenico. So Irène became a rebel. I love women who take a stand.

There were other amazing female characters. One of them was Bijou, a female raptor who was very protective of Noisette, the ten year old girl who'd adopted Bijou.  I was also impressed by the courage of  Irène's closest friend, Simone.

There's a romance element in The Peddler of Wisdom.  We even get a HEA ending.  Yet I wouldn't categorize this novel as a romance.  I think that the romance content is insufficient.  I would say the same about characterizing The Peddler of Wisdom as a fantasy.  There is a great deal of discussion about magic, but there are relatively few magical acts.   

I wouldn't count Irène's Tarot readings as magic.  For me, they exhibit insight/intuition.   Some would say that the 17th century was too early for Tarot divination since the earliest historically recorded use of Tarot for that purpose was in the 18th century.  Tarot images were originally utilized for playing cards, not as divination tools.  I should point out that recorded history has tended to focus exclusively on the doings of the wealthy and powerful.   Irène learned about divination with Tarot cards from a Romani woman.  It seems to me at least possible that the Romani might have been reading Tarot somewhat earlier than history indicates.

The Romani are called "gypsies" in this book.    I have been guilty of using the term "gypsies" myself, but that was before I learned the history of  "gypsy" as a pejorative.  It's enough for me that members of this ethnic group prefer Romani.   My policy is that people should be called what they want to be called.  Of course, 17th century Irène wouldn't have known better.  It did bother me that Irène was insulting toward Romani  at the end of the book.   Hurtful stereotypes about the Romani have been common and they still do have a great deal of currency.  Irène seemed advanced in a number of ways.   That comment caused me to think less of her.  It also left a bad taste in my mouth since it was literally the last thing Irène said.

The protagonist of The Peddler of Wisdom was by no means perfect, nor did she need to be perfect.   Characters seem more real if they have flaws or complexity.   A number of characters in Bendoly's book were well-developed including the villainous tyrant Domenico who had a background, and an unpredictable degree of ambivalence.

I had some minor problems with this novel that I won't discuss here.  I did like The Peddler of Wisdom for the most part, and was glad to have the opportunity to read it.