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Whenever September comes around, I find my soul is stirring with eager anticipation, because that means the latest Terry Pratchett novel, is just around the corner. These days, the excitement is tempered somewhat, since that fabulous author has admitted to the world that he is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's. Perhaps he has made an admission equivalent to saying he is sitting in the path of DEATH of Intellect. Or something. Perhaps we, the long time (or short term) admirers of his work would really like to squeeze as much as possible out of the poor man, or perhaps we could just relax and thank him for what he has done for all of us. Regardless, let us read and appreciate this year's Pratchett and hope the wonderful author has some unpublished scraps still in store for us. NATION is, first of all, not a Discworld novel. Instead, it is set on what appears to be a Victorian alternate Earth. A plague has struck the royal house of Great Britain and the Heir and his daughter are at sea somewhere, on separate vessels. The SWEET JUDY contains the daughter of the Heir as well as a foul mouthed parrot. That is when something akin to a tsunami strikes, de-souling all but the parrot and the girl, Ermintrude (a name she hates, so changes it to Daphne as soon as she can). Mau is a young boy indigenous to some South Sea Islands. He is undergoing the ritual to make him a man and is between souls (having outgrown his boy soul but not yet having had his man soul bestowed) when the tsunami hits, destroying his old life forever. He and Daphne, whom he thinks of as a "ghost girl", find themselves washed up together on an unlikely island and try to make themselves a home safe from gods who can't be bothered to protect their worshippers, but protective of all comers who try to help the entire population. Mau is, at first, unaware of Daphne, as he brokenheartedly disposes of the bodies of all his friends and family. She, on the other hand, is very aware of Mau and, in fact, tries to shoot him, but the powder in her gun is damp and only sparks without producing fire. Mau is very excited at the spark because he knows how to make fire, so he gently takes the fire from Daphne. Daphne is as anxious as Mau for a return to the world she knows, even though it is very different from the one in which she now finds herself, but between them, she and Mau make a world in which they and other survivors manage to found a civilisation of sorts. Daphne is even tested to lengths which she could not formerly have contemplated. This is a splendid book. Pratchett has taken on an entire civilisation and turned it upside down, shaken its gods and produced a nation able to reason for itself and formulate an embryonic ethical creation well able to take care of itself. Mau and Daphne are gorgeous characters and while I doubt we wíll see them again, it is great to speculate on their future.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, November 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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