The Stockholm Octavo. Karen Engelmann. 2012: Ecco. ISBN:
9780061995347.
* * * *
It may be summertime, but Karen Engelmann’s wintry The Stockholm Octavo makes for a
delicious page-turning beach read.
The year is 1789 and if that date sounds familiar, it’s year
one of the French Revolution. King Louis XVI has just been deposed, an event
that has all of Europe talking–even in faraway Stockholm, where Engelmann’s
tale is set. It’s quite the topic of conversation in Sofia Sparrow’s gambling
parlor if, for no other reason, Sweden is also riven between monarchists and
erstwhile republicans. Mrs. Sparrow is a staunch defender of tradition and
monarchy; she’s also an odd bird–a mysterious woman of faded elegance whose
establishment falls into the tolerated-but-not-quite-legal category. She also
reads Tarot cards and counts Sweden’s King Gustav III among her confidants.
As even the most casual student of history knows, the French
Revolution was not confined to France. Before the dust settled, all of Europe
was at war. In some places, aristocrats were strengthened; in others, they
tumbled from power and grace. Most nobles understood that, in one way or
another, their fates lay in the restoration of Louis to power. Plots were
hatched in every palace in Europe, including Stockholm.
But this isn’t a novel about politics per se; it’s really a
power struggle between Sparrow and a pretentious woman nicknamed The Uzanne,
who wants Gustav off the throne and his brother (her lover) in power and not
because she finds him a dynamic bedmate. The Uzanne is the fashionable woman we
presume Sparrow once was; she’s rich, attractive, and the very soul of womanly
arts. In those days, this involved how to use fans to one’s social advantage. The
Uzanne not only knows how to encode messages in how she holds her fan; she also
possesses Sweden’s largest and most valuable collection of them, including a
favorite she loses to Sparrow at the card table. Every fashionable young woman
in Stockholm wants to learn the art of the fan from the Uzanne, but are they
her pupils or are they accomplices in something more sinister?
The monkey in the middle is Emil Larsson, a carefree playboy
and ambitious low-level government bureaucrat (sekretaire) whom Sparrow takes under her tutelage. She lays out an
octavo, an eight-card Tarot configuration, which is allegedly Emil’s key to
fortune and happiness. All he has to do is figure out who plays the various
roles foreseen in the cards (Companion, Trickster, Teacher, etc.). Larsson soon
learns that his octavo and Sparrow’s are intertwined and that his personal path
is strewn with danger and intrigue involving, among others, false loves, a female
apothecary, and a family of fan makers. What is in play? Black magic, or
something earthly but more evil?
The Stockholm Octavo is,
at base, a complex mystery. It is exceedingly well written, pays meticulous
attention to detail, and unveils a cast of unforgettable characters (both major
and minor). You’ll want to learn more about late 18th century
Sweden, and I’ll guarantee you’ll never again think of Tarot cards or fans the
same way.--Rob Weir
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