WORLD

Barr fictionalizes a historically significant stretch of time in the Persian Empire in this short historical novel.

In the author’s follow-up to Cocktails and Peacocks Feathers: An Anthology of Poetry (2024), readers are transported to 334 B.C.E. Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Barr’s young protagonist, Andronicus, is a Macedonian man of ambition who’s recently married a woman named Idahlia. Searching for more than the simple existence they were born into, Andronicus and Idahlia leave their old home behind and venture into war-torn Asia Minor, ruled at the time by the inimitable Alexander the Great, who’s busy marshalling his troops to ransack and conquer the Persians, whom he believes have gotten “too comfortable.” As Alexander moves, so, too, do Andronicus and Idahlia, along with their poet friend Leo. They settle for a time in Persepolis in 330 B.C.E., where the pair make ends meet with simple work and bartering. Meanwhile, readers are introduced to Roxane, the daughter of Baron and Leila Oxyartes, the former a powerful authority in the region. Still just a child, Roxane fusses in the ceremonial wedding dress she’s forced to wear to marry her half brother, Shapur: “The old blue dress is itchy and Roxane imagines the tiny creatures that nibble away on its fabric, the same creatures that feast on her mother’s silk dresses that hang like faded flowers on the lichen-encrusted walls of their hut.” Such is the existence Roxane leads in Sogdia, a place where such weddings of convenience are commonplace. Things are not much better for Andronicus and Idahlia. Just as the couple’s hardscrabble existence finally begins to seem untenable, fate draws them toward a meeting with Roxane that will alter the course of their lives.

While Barr’s novel is sometimes more of a meandering period piece than a propulsive narrative, readers can easily forgive such lapses; on the whole, the author’s research and authority over the subject matter are impressive. Barr’s richly ambient descriptions and vivid landscapes transport readers to the harsh climes of these ancient Persian lands. This is no small feat, since the novel is set in a time so long past that conjuring it requires some truly imaginative flourishes in the prose, which Barr renders in often simple but delicately chosen details: “The cave they have chosen has been made welcoming. The brazier is Bah’s. It is fine, tall and highly polished, and its light is soft. The best carpets and furs have been laid around the cave’s interior. Roxane finds the basket. It is tall and of fine weave and inside are the fragrant oranges eaten only on special occasions.” True, readers may not find the sort of unforgettable characters who are often prized in historical fiction set in ancient times (Andronicus, while an apt narrator, is not especially striking), but Barr’s text is just short enough that the characters are able to carry the weight of the narrative through to the final pages.

A lovingly researched tale whose rich setting and vivid scenery shine throughout.