Going with the wind

It is rare for a first novel to be launched with the degree of enthusiasm that Fourth Estate have bestowed upon this saga of the American civil war. The jacket comes trumpeting its triumph on release in the USA. ‘Deserves the Pulitzer Prize’, it quotes from the Toronto Globe and Mail. A cynic might say, on observing that the author holds dual Canadian citizenship, ‘Well, the Toronto Globe and Mail would say that, wouldn’t they?’ But then, so would I. And, what is more, that goes for any other literary prize for which Paulette Jiles is entitled by birth, age or gender, for with Enemy Women she has worked something of a wonder of storytelling.

In the midst of an exceptional meal it is necessary sometimes to put down one’s knife and fork and pause for a moment to consider texture, aroma, flavour and ambience. So it should be with a good tale.