John Booth came from a family of 10 children, four of whom died in childhood.
His father was one of the best-known Shakespearean actors of his day, an Englishman who took his wife to live in the country near Baltimore in the US, then left her there to cope with an ever-increasing family while he toured, drank and behaved strangely. Three of his sons, including John, followed him onto the stage, and one daughter was a writer.
It is John who ultimately makes a choice that would change the course of US history: to assassinate President Lincoln. Most of the book is presented from his siblings’ points of view, each with their own story. Lincoln’s political career is followed by snippets of his writings at the beginning of some chapters.
Surprisingly the spectre of the Civil War doesn’t shadow the story. There are tensions within the family caused by differing loyalties, but the reasons for John’s fatal action are not as clearly presented as I had expected. The issue of slavery is dealt with well, with the varying ideas current from abolitionists to slave owners via Booth Senior who uses slave labour but pays them.
Fowler has obviously had access to letters and personal writings, but their inclusion sometimes felt intrusive. The use of short sentences and changes of tense made the book feel a bit uneven in parts.
The characters were the backbone of this book, convincingly portrayed and three-dimensional, and it is as much a book about family as historical fiction.
Reviewed by Kath Pigou
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen Joy Fowler is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels and three short story collections. Her 2004 novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, spent 13 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book.
Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book.
Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. Her most recent novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction and was short-listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. Her new novel Booth published in March 2022 and was long-listed for the 2022 Booker Prize.
She is the co-founder of the Otherwise Award and the current president of the Clarion Foundation (also known as Clarion San Diego). Fowler and her husband, who have two grown children and seven grandchildren, live in Santa Cruz, California. Fowler also supports a chimp named Caesar who lives at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone.
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