The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
Walker Books, 2014. ISBN 9781406348088.
A debut novel, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
follows the lives of Ava Lavender and the two previous generations
of her family. The family begins in France, and migrates to America
in 1912, when Emilienne is eight. It is a story of the loves, losses
and obsessions of Ava, her mother Viviane Lavender, and her
grandmother Emilienne Roux.
The genre is magic realism. Ava is born with wings, ghosts are part
of the family's everyday life, and portents abound. The novel could
be one to include in a school library and might prove useful for Yr
12 English students who would like to use it as a comparative text
with other novels of the magic realism genre, or as an exploration
of the theme of love, including a number of strong examples of
unrequited love. It could also be an interesting story to discuss
independence - Ava is cloistered in the family home in order to be
protected from the world at large, with serious consequences when
she ventures forth.
The book is written in lyrical prose and would appeal to a
sophisticated reader.
Anne Veitch