While researching a failed 18th-century Utopian settlement, an embittered history professor with Utopian ideas for transforming his school draws parallels between history and his own life. In the meantime, his wife has her own Utopian ideas wherein their handicapped son would become mankind's savior. A sublimely engrossing novel about idealism and exile.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
"What would happen if men like you ran the world, Mr. Dawes?" asks the governor of Australia's Sidney Cove colony, circa 1790. Lt. William Dawes once believed that Sidney Cove would be the basis of an ideal world. but he discovers a reality where planning decisions are based on expediency, convicts sell favors to marines, and natives are dispossessed. His gradual awakening is hastened by his role in a smallpox plague and his relationships with the other colonists and, eventually, the aboriginal girl Booron. The tale shifts to the present day, where Stephen Beech, who attempted to implement a utopian vision of his own as a school administrator, is writing the story of Sidney Cove. Olla, his wife, has had a vision that she is sure their deformed son Daniel will use to transform the world. Stephen and Olla's story intermingles with Dawes's, illuminating their individual interpretations of utopia. Rogers's superbly crafted narrative immerses the reader in the harsh choices and conditions of colonial life and in a political and philosophical exploration of utopias as framed by the governor's question. Highly recommended.?Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. System, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Rogers weaves three narratives together to create an engrossing meditation on illusions and reality. First there is William Dawes, member of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788, officially assigned to construct an observatory and make astronomical records, but circumstances dictate that he must spend most of his energies as the colony surveyor. Dawes finds life to be a constant struggle between the potential new world, which he idealizes, and the harsh demands of reality. Then there is Stephen, a modern-day British author, writing a narrative of Dawes' life. Stephen's socialist ideals have recently caused the disastrous downfall of a children's school that he had hoped would create an enlightened new generation. His wife is Olla, a Polish emigre, whose story appears initially void of illusion; then we learn that she might be laboring under the greatest fantasy: she believes that her severely crippled son is actually humankind's newborn savior. Themes within the story constantly echo and reverberate in this extremely satisfying work for the serious reader. Eric Robbins
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling history,
This review is from: Promised Lands (Hardcover)
I've always been drawn to books that juxtapose our contempory world with a bygone historical world. That was what drew me initially to Jane Rogers' novel. I ended up reading it strictly for the historical sections. I followed Dawes' endeavors and evolving social conscious with delight. The sections featuring the latter-day Olla and Stephen at first appeared to be promising, but soon dwindled to insignificance. The deformed child was like a sore thumb, distracting from what seemed the book's true purpose. However, Stephen's comparisons of his own self with Dawes were intriguing. I would recommend this book only to those who love a good historical tale. I'm glad I read it.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
beautifully written, great story, and provocative,
By A Customer
This review is from: Promised Lands (Hardcover)
My sister, the professor of English and sometime novelist, told me that this was a good book. She stopped short of recommemding that I read it, probably because she knows that most of my reading is done on airplanes and consists of mysteries and science fiction. "It's an interesting book," she said, "it's supposed to be about a deformed child," she paused, "...but it's not, not really. It's more than that." I started to read the book on an airplane, partly to prove to my more literate sister that I could read something serious, at least occasionally. Unlike the usual mysteries and science fiction, I did not put this book down when I got home. The writing is wonderful and the story is a whopper. The book is about families, late 20th Century Europe and the founding of Australia; it's about different people trying to do the same thing, trying to change the world so that it suits them. But, not really...It's more than that
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