In another signature blending of historical roman à clef and fantasy, Guy Gavriel Kay draws on medieval French literary and court history for an intriguing weaving that features murder, a mad king, a re-imagined Joan of Arc, the horizon of the Hundred Years’ War and more.
Kay’s protagonist, the street poet and rogue Villar, gets caught up in the mystery of the assassination of a duke on the winter-dark cobbles of a street in Orane (a double for Paris, as is Villar for François Villon, notable poet and thief of the Middle Ages). While the perilous whodunnit unravels, the poet and his verse emerge from the margins of his small life to shape the important events of his day.
This is one of Kay’s recurring themes: that ‘unimportant’ people can influence significant events. Also favoured by Kay is the story of love in all its richness, and Written on the Dark does not disappoint; we’re rewarded with queer couples, parental love, triangles, love for a city, passion for verse. The courtly rhythm of the sentences, the steadily building tension of the mystery, the increasingly engaging voice of the poet protagonist make Written on the Dark a true delight to read.
Fans of Kay’s oeuvre will be quietly pleased with how this narrative bridges his previous novels set in Ferrières and Sarantium (médiéval France and Byzantium). Kay’s writing usually features minor characters who are vibrantly realised; in this shorter work, they are less lovingly detailed. That said, complaining the novel was too short only confirms the excellent enjoyment to be had of Written on the Dark.
Reviewed by Wendy Waring
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Guy Gavriel Kay is the internationally bestselling author of numerous novels,s. He has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his work in the literature of the fantastic and won the World Fantasy Award for Ysabel in 2008. In 2014, he was named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour. His works have been translated into more than 25 languages.
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