MARIKE’S WORLD

Another period piece set in Manhattan from the prolific Rae (Sunlight on a Broken Column, 1997, etc.), this time following Dutch-American Marike from the American Revolution through George Washington’s inauguration.

When her lover, Philip Bogardus, goes off to fight the British, pregnant Marike concocts a story of hooligan rape for her relatives in Ossining in order to be spared ostracism if Philip fails to return. But return he does, and the two marry, moving into the Manhattan home of Philip's family while he takes over his deceased father's thriving business. This domestic arrangement, though, proves harrowing: Philip's drug-addicted and violent mother, nearly catatonic sister Louisa, and older sister Anna (a quietly suffering martyr) form a fearsome trio with whom Marike must contend while raising her young children. Louisa falls for Marike's Mohawk friend, Tanka (who is as silent and one-dimensional as Tonto), then is found dead. Marike rightly suspects her sister-in-law was murdered, but holds her tongue, a decision that reaps a bounteous harvest of family disaster: Anna's intended, the British soldier Saunders, returns for her but reveals himself to be a “scoundral” when he kidnaps Marike to sell her to a brothel. Tanka saves the day, and Saunders runs off with Anna, leaving Mother Bogardus dead in a rocking chair, perhaps murdered. Then Anna returns home alone, ragged and raving. The volatile Revolutionary era offers great plot possibilities, but Rae’s fast-paced, slapdash story, though filled with adventure and intrigue, sorely lacks emotional substance.

Less a novel than a catalogue of interesting events.