"I suppose I ought to warn you at the outset that my present circumstances are puzzling, even to me.
Nevertheless, I am sure of this much: my little story has become your history. You won't really understand
your times until you understand mine."
With that declaration, Mary Doria Russell opens her fourth novel and second work of historical fiction. Dreamers of the Day
is the story of Agnes Shanklin, a forty-year-old school teacher from
Ohio whose small inheritance allows her to leave behind her dull and
predictable life for an adventure of historic importance. Agnes'
"little story" is the creation of the modern Middle East at the 1921
Cairo Peace Conference where she befriends the larger-than-life T. E.
Lawrence, Winston Churchill and Lady Gertrude Bell.
Agnes is
still struggling with the loss of her parents to the influenza
epidemic, her brother to the Great War, and her beloved missionary
sister when she boldly takes her new wealth and embarks on a trip to
the Holy Land and Mesopotamia. Her introduction to the powerful elite
of the conference puts her center stage as the countries of Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan are created. Though Agnes is on the
sidelines of the action, she develops a strong attachment to Lawrence
and is privy to the eccentric habits of Churchill and the outspoken
Gertie Bell.
I was, for the most part, comfortable with
Russell's construct: the creation of the fictional Agnes who is placed
in an historically-accurate time and place. Agnes is intelligent,
curious, and quite capable of holding her own in the company of such
notable historical figures. Drawn from historical sources that offer
insight to the personalities and quirks of Lawrence, Churchill and
Bell, Dreamers of the Day is relevant, to say the least.
Russell's new novel succeeds on several levels: she provides a detailed
historical backdrop that sheds light on today's Middle East crisis, and
creates an engaging character in Agnes, who for the first time in her
life listens to her own voice (not that of her oppressive "mumma"). ~ Wendee
