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Sleep, Pale Sister

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SLEEP, PALE SISTER by Joanne Harris
November 3, 2005

Amazon Rating: 4/5 Stars

Fans of Joanne Harris, most famous for Chocolat, will be delighted to read this older work by the beloved author, SLEEP, PALE SISTER. Originally published in 1994, it is quite different from her more current novels. SLEEP, PALE SISTER is a gothic novel, complete with ghosts, evil men and fainting women. Harris' taste for food is not apparent in this novel either. Basically, persons reading this book as their first taste of Joanne Harris will not know that this older novel is not typical of what she is known for today. Whether that is good or bad is left up to the reader.

The novel revolves around two characters, Effie, who is introduced when she is a young impressionable girl, and Henry Chester, who is a much older man, an artist who discovers Effie and falls for her, despite their age difference. Effie eventually marries Henry, when she is seventeen and he is in his forties, and Effie soon finds out she's made a big mistake. Henry's ideal woman is virginal and chaste, and the act of sex disgusts him. What Effie doesn't realize is that having sex with HER disgusts him, because he was attracted to her innocence, but his lust for women is lurking underneath his facade of purity and godliness.

Effie becomes ill quite often, especially after the miscarriage of her baby, and loses her love of life. Henry thinks she's just a typical weak woman, and lets her sleep away her days under the spell of the laudanum he insists she ingests. In the meantime, Henry meets Moses Harper, who becomes his protege, and Moses falls for the beautiful Effie. He's much closer in age to Effie, and notices how unhappy she is. The two start an affair, a dangerous deed since Henry has never hesitated to punish Effie if he felt she needed it.

Effie in turn meets Fanny Miller, a woman of ill repute who turns to Effie as if she were her own daughter. Fanny has her own secrets, one that includes Henry. The plot thickens as the four lives become intertwined.

The book is narrated by these four characters, each insisting that their viewpoint of the story is the truth. Henry insists that he is the one that was misunderstood, and the reader may sympathize with him for maybe a few pages, but as one gets to know him, the worse Henry will appear.

Those who love these gothic novels filled with dark overtones, paranormal beings and ladies in distress, this if for you. The only complaint I had was that the novel I felt went on a bit too long, but at the same time, I enjoyed getting to know the characters and was very engrossed by the story, eager to know how the book would end. It's not the typical Harris novel, so old fans be warned! I enjoyed SLEEP, PALE SISTER a lot and would have loved to have seen Joanne Harris write more books like this.

Let me start by saying that Joanne Harris is one of my favorite writers - this book is a re-print of a novel that had first been published before she became well-known.

It features her usual blend of colorful characters (including the occasional spirit!) bound together by deep, and often dark, passion and magic.

Unusually, in this book she seems to have little sympathy for her characters - though I must admit that most of them really aren't all that likeable, the fact that even their creator can't sympathize with them or try to make some sort of excuse for them, makes them that much sadder.

I enjoyed reading it, but it's nowhere near one of her best works - I personally think she's at her best when writing about food, Chocolat being one of my all-time favorite books.

I am a huge fan of Joanne Harris' work. The first book of hers that I read was "5 quarters of the orange" and I LOVED it. I began reading all of the works that I could, which I enjoyed, but they never stood up to 5 Quarters. In "Sleep, Pale Sister" I have finally been able to find that same immersive book experience. I LOVED IT!

This is a consuming Gothic novel by the author of Chocolat. What lies hidden in that later novel is brought to the fore here. Whilst Vianne Rocher has a love/hate relationship with the Tarot in Chocolat, the cards here form the divisions of the text, the stepping-stones we take to reach the conclusion. And it is possible to make a reading from these cards, unlike those of T. S. Elliot's Madame Sosostris.

Henry Paul Chester is a Victorian artist, the owner of a deadly secret, which goes to the very depth of his heart and art. Here we seem to be on traditional Gothic turf: that of James Hogg and his 'Confessions of a Justified Sinner', for Chester postulates that he may well have a secret double. Joanne Harris obeys the literary conventions of the early Gothic here by making Chester a Catholic - Matthew 'Monk' Lewis' Ambrosio removed from his Abbey and placed into the art world. He is just as repressed and far back in denial as Father Reynaud is in Chocolat. Then there's a touch of Sheridan Le Fanu too, with the distressed maiden taking liberal doses of laudanum. However, 'Sleep, Pale Sister' is not just homage to old fictions. Joanne Harris is an excellent storyteller, with a quite distinctive style. The tales of Le Fanu and Stoker may have had their powerful, exciting moments, but Harris outshines them all with her excellent technique.

Chester is obsessed with painting young, 'innocent' girls. Which leads him to spot the nine-year-old Effie in a park. For the price of a few shillings, Chester gets his perfect model. Effie becomes the star of a series of portraits of young, distressed children, such as 'The Little Beggar Girl'. After ten years, Chester marries his 'perfect' model, and this is precisely the moment when their relationship sours. She turns to one of Chester's rivals, the unscrupulous Moses Zachary Harper, for solace. But he is not about to lead her to the Promised Land. It is at a carnival that Effie finally heeds her calling, summoned by Fanny Miller, a brothel keeper who sees something of her dead daughter in Effie. With Effie under her spell, Fanny finally unlocks Henry Chester's dark secret. Together with Mose, she devises a deadly plan to expose and ruin Chester. But with the use of magic, there is always the danger of the unseen...

In Chocolat, there's a delicious scene in which Harris refers to 'Alice in Wonderland', and it seems as though she could be hinting to Charles Dodgsons' suspected paedophilia. But there is also the example of the Pre-Raphaelite John Ruskin, whose name is often mentioned in this novel, as Chester seeks the art critic's approbation. Ruskin too married an Effie, Euphemia Gray. Ruskin's marriage was annulled after six years due to it being unconsummated, leaving Effie free to marry another Pre-Raphaelite artist. It's possible that Joanne Harris got part of her story from this source, from Ruskin's repressed sexuality. One also has to take note of the fact that Kate Atkinson has taken the name of Euphemia as the heroine of her latest novel, 'Emotionally Weird'. Now that Harris and Atkinson are both published by Doubleday, it would seem prudent to investigate such links between these two writers. However, Atkinson's use of Effie may well be coincidental, since this name seems to be beloved of the Scots and 'Emotionally Weird' is very celebratory of all things Scottish. Besides, 'Euphemia' means 'to speak well', and since Effie is not the most articulate of narrators (in her narrative which knows it is prose), this is probably another sign of Atkinson's wordplay at work.

However, as mentioned before, Harris' 'Sleep, Pale Sister' can be linked to a number of other Victorian and Pre-Victorian Gothic fictions. Also running through the novel is the figure of Scheherazade, the heroine of 'A Thousand and One Nights', who, to prevent her execution by the king, her husband, cleverly told him so many fabulous tales that the time of her execution had to be constantly stayed, because he was so eager to hear their resolution. Of course, the Arabian Nights do have a happy conclusion, and it's intriguing to see Joanne Harris playing with the rules of convention here.

'Sleep, Pale Sister' is then a quite complex work, but combined with Harris' typically strong plot, any reader will be compelled to race to the end. It's a very rewarding novel, operating on many levels. Take, for instance, Harris' employment of 'My Sister's Sleep', the poem which forms the basis for one of Effie's portraits - it does have a great deal of relevance to the plot. One of Harris' main themes is that of Childhood, as excelled in her latest novel, 'Blackberry Wine'. It is entirely appropriate then, that she should attempt to tackle the Victorians, who are widely credited with having created 'childhood'. However, Harris is quite clear as to how some Victorians set out to [...] their creation. This is a narrative conceived from the same pen as that of Chocolat, and therefore deserves to be read by a much wider audience. At its heart lies the same battle between the supposed rational man and the 'hysterical' woman, as defined here by the fictional psychoanalyst Dr. Francis Russell. Like 'Chocolat', an equal balance of male and female antagonists narrates the novel. You'll not be disappointed by this rare and bloody fiction.

What seems at first a man's Svengali-like obsession with a pure young woman and another man's seduction that female proves to be but a part of a clever plot that twists and turns in unexpected ways, producing a darkly gothic ambiance that reeks of menace. At the center of everyone's fascination is the ethereal Effie, a frail girl with streaming white-blonde hair, who becomes the singular model for artist Henry Paul Chester. In the Victorian fashion, Chester makes clear moral distinctions, his life well-ordered and constricted by society's tenets, his considerable dark side kept well-disguised. Many years her senior, Chester marries the unassuming Effie, but struggles to maintain the ideal of purity with his wife, exorcised when she turns to him with passion on their wedding night. Repulsed, Chester believes his wife is tainted, ruined beneath the surface of her innocence. To assuage his own needs, Chester frequents a local bawdy house, where he is consistently drawn to a nubile virgin, Marti, provided by the madam, Fanny Miller.

Determined to maintain the façade he requires for emotional equilibrium, Chester doses his wife liberally with laudanum to assure her compliance with his wishes and shelter her from the outside world. Henry has a showing to introduce his work to the public; into this venue steps a roué, Moses Zachary Harper, who is immediately fascinated by Effie, her shy modesty a drug to his jaded senses. Much to Moses' surprise, his seduction is eagerly embraced, Effie desperate to taste the forbidden fruit he offers, her young life circumscribed by Chester's rigid control. Even Moses is out of his depth, anticipating a short, satisfying dalliance, but pulled into an erotic affair that both exceeds his expectations and frustrates his natural inclination to dominate. Manipulating behind the scenes is Fanny Miller, who has plans of her own for Effie and Moses, among them a long-awaited revenge that will not be denied. Once Effie is introduced to Fannie, the die is cast.

What ensues is a complicated brew of obsession, revenge, guilt and the loss of innocence, all laced with increasing draughts of laudanum and chloral hydrate. While Effie drifts through her days and deceptive nights in a drug-filled fugue, Henry is beset with guilt and increasing paranoia, relieved only by furtive doses of chloral hydrate. Fantasy and reality merge as the final act begins, the tortured souls tearing at one another with artifice and deception. In true gothic fashion, the pages are laced with evil intentions, even Effie unrecognizable in the hands of a master. A pawn to Henry, Moses and Fanny, Effie is the key to all, the coin of a terrible misdeed. Henry, the dark master, is ultimately destroyed by his damaged soul, dissembling to the end to avoid the consequences of his sick and twisted existence. Harris defines the powerful subconscious of her characters, a murky underworld of sexual dysfunction and the callous destruction of a defenseless young woman. In true Victorian fashion, the morality play self-destructs, hurling the protagonists into their just rewards. Luan Gaines/2007.

I love Joanne Harris's writing. She almost sounds like a poet at times and describes things so well. This book was hard to put down because there was always something happening and everything ties together so well. It's eerie and mystical.

London, 1870s-1881. Henry Chester is an artist and a devoted catholic. He paints eerie portraits based on his favorite poems and passages. He hires prostitutes as models. As much as he detests the aforementioned profession, he finds them somewhat acceptable for his paintings. That is until he meets ten-year-old Effie. Her platinum-blonde hair, pale complexion and sweet disposition move Henry so much that she becomes his favorite model. Then he marries her when she turns seventeen. But Effie is not the innocent he had once assumed she was. She is passionate, disturbingly so (at least to Henry), and Henry gives her laudanum and lords over her in an effort to break her spirit. Henry hides some rather sinister secrets, all of which are revealed in a series of bizarre twists and turns in which a prostitute-slash-gypsy and a smooth-talking player are involved.

Sleep, Pale Sister is one of the strangest novels I have read. The eerie, gothic language drew me in at first, but the other events riveted me to no end. I literally couldn't put it down. So much so that, had I been a Victorian lady, I probably would have needed a dose of laudanum to keep from reaching out for the book in the middle of the night. I won't discuss plot details in this review. The story is too complex to write much without revealing something crucial. All I can say is that this novel contains the unexpected twists found in Harris's recent book Gentlemen and Players and the same dark language and deep contempt for the Catholic Church found in Holy Fools. But there is so much more. However, like I said, I won't spoil it for you. You'll just have to let the dark narrative and intricate plot guide you to the story's flooring conclusion. Some things I will comment on though, like Henry's piousness. The way his life is and his ironic contempt for prostitutes almost made me believe at first that this was a fictional account on Jack the Ripper. That is not the case though. And with all of the complexity and perversity in the characters' minds, this novel could also be categorized as a very clever psychological thriller. Also, none of the four main characters, with the possible exception of Effie, is likable. They are very selfish, dark characters. (Especially Henry. Dude is one sick SOB!) Joanne Harris has impressed me once again. She truly is one of the best literary authors of today. I like this one as much as Gentlemen and Players. As gothic as a classic Victorian novel and as ethereal as a Pre-Raphaelite painting, Sleep, Pale Sister is indeed a dream of a book.

Sleep, Pale Sister / 0-06-078711-2

"Sleep, Pale Sister" grabs you from the first page and never lets go. As you are dragged through the lives of a pale victim and her three persecutors, you are shown by turns the motivations and inner thoughts of her tormentors, by the compelling switches between narrative viewpoint. This is one of the hardest tricks to pull off in novels, yet Harris manages to make it look effortless. Each tormentor addresses themselves to us, explains their motives and urges that their view is the "right" one. As each villain "loves" our poor victim into the grave, we are touched with the deep sadness of the cruelties we can inflict on one another in our own deep selfishness.

The tormentors are incredibly varied and intensely compelling: a husband who hates his wife for being human and who punishes her for her own good to remove the sin from her; a lover who hates his darling for being more than a trinket and who torments her to break her spirit and satisfy his own desires; and a distraught mother who is so anxious to see her dead daughter again that she will hypnotize, drug, and abuse a sweet stranger in an attempt to regain what she has lost. Deeper and darker than other Harris novels, "Sleep, Pale Sister" offers no hope - only a painful, terrifying look at how even the 'normal' amongst us can become so consumed with our own desires and pain that we become willing to inflict pain on innocent bystanders. I highly recommend this novel as a gripping, terrifying read.

I should mention one thing: Harris seems to be working with a different Tarot tradition than the one I was taught, and it leads to some potential for confusion in the reading. She uses The Hermit to identify murderers and dark secrets, rather than as a card of withdrawal and meditation. The Hanging Man and Death are here regarded as bad omens, instead of as cards of change and growth. Most confusing of all is her use of The Star to indicate miscarriage and trauma, instead of as a card of spiritual healing. The fact that Harris uses a different interpretation of the Tarot did not in any way detract from the novel for me, but it is worth mentioning because I found the symbolism confusing on the first read-through.

~ Ana Mardoll

I bought this book on the advice of a member of my Tarot group. She said that there were several instances of Tarot readings and such. I'm very grateful that she recommended it because it was a fabulous read!

"Sleep, Pale Sister" is a dreamy drug of a book, an ethereally written Gothic sort of ghost story that had me enthralled for several late nights. Magic, Tarot readings and a nice touch of the supernatural add yummy cayenne to this unique story of the wealthy artist, Henry Chester, and his young model, Effie, who becomes his wife at the tender age of 17, although she became his model many years before. Though Henry keeps Effie drugged with laudanum, she manages to find a cad of a lover in Moses Harper, a rival carpetbagger of a painter who introduces Effie to Fannie Miller, the occult madam of a brothel that Henry visits every Thursday. The characters are excellent as is the engaging plot.

I won't give away any more of the plot, but let me just warn you that this book is not for the faint of heart. Try it, you might like it!!!

I am rarely impressed by a novel and generally spend more time on informative things but occasionally I find a book, novel, on a fluke that is incredible. I bought this book from a dollar day sale at Borders while waiting for my son to pick his new book and was intertwined immediately with the art and honesty of it. Written oddly like a series of first person confessions or time lined personal accounts, it was spectacular. Loved every morsel of it, even the truly haunting evils and softly beautiful shackles that hold people back from themselves and others. I am now attempting to decided which Joanne Harris book is next for me . . . :)