Fern, assistant to an eccentric midwife, is “just gone” when she hears the heartbeat of an unborn baby; she is “just gone” when she walks through the forest, letting in all the natural sounds and smells, sensualsations that transport her somewhere we’d all like to be. You’d think from my description of Fern, the main character of Graham Joyce’s latest book, “The Limits of Enchantment’, that she was smoking something, but although the book is set in the 1960s– and will bring any of you who lived through and enjoyed that magical era back to front center–Fern is not a hippie. She’s an original character, one we can learn much from.
This is the first Graham Joyce book I’ve ever read, the first time I’ve read this style of storytelling, and it’s been pure joy. Joyce’s book was also longlisted for this year’s coveted Man Booker Prize.