Customer Reviews

The Splendor of Antiquity (Le splendor de l'antiquité)

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I loved everything about this book. The narrator is a dead Babylonian king. Joliette, the main character, is an archeologist who grapples with love and trust and her strong attraction toward digging up dead things. The characters and the plot are unique and utterly captivating.

A line Ms. Gardner wrote within this book captured how I felt about much of it: "... silken words draped over sorrow." The beauty of the words often had me stopping to re-read sentences. This is not a long book but it is one to be savored.

I think I finally know why Gardner's work fascinates me so. It combines my love of the bump in the dark with prose that reminds me of Jane Austen, you know if Jane Austen had liked to wear black and smoke unfiltered cigarettes.

Yeah, kind of like that. Excellent book, completely unexpected ending. As always, Cheryl delivers.

"It is ironic, is it not, how everything seems so poetic in death, yet we rarely see the poetry in life?"

I couldn't think of a more truer statement than this, spoken by a God-like king on the first page of Cheryl Anne Gardner's book, The Splendor of Antiquity. True, we'd expect our Gods to say such profound things and the narrator of this book does not disappoint with such expectations. After all, he has been dead for centuries and our lead female, an archaeologists named Joliette Deneauve, is about to dig him up.

Gardner has magnificently given the book a theme about faith. The reader will know that right from the start. But this is also a book about passion, and there are two kinds here. First the passion, both physical and emotional, felt between two people. This is evident between Joliette and her fellow archaeologist named Olivier Botton. But then there's the feeling of passion that one has when they find themselves so truly captivated by some thing that also steals their heart away. For many, this second passion is the love and faith one feels for God, or should I say a God. And so Joliette finds herself torn between the two. She struggles against her connection with Olivier and is overcome with passion for the dead king she discovers deep in the Siberian mountains.

Tittering on the brink of fantasy, Gardner presented herself with quite a challenge when writing this book. Olivier and Joliette are both human so conversation between the two would obviously come quite naturally. However, remember this book is narrated by the dead king. Though he speaks to the reader, he cannot verbally speak to Joliette. But the one sided conversations Joliette has with his skull will send shivers up your spine. In Chapter 5, Joliette uses technology to sculpt a model of what the king might have looked like, a beautiful metaphor for God breathing life into each of us, but held at bay by the fact Joliette uses technology, science, to recreate the features of the king:

"In the simplest and most poetic of terms, she believed, devoutly in her heart, that a thing, once created, should never die. "Doesn't matter what that thing is: flesh, stone, or bone," she said. "Even the idea that sparked the courage to create in the first place has merit beyond the moment and should never fade from the world. Neither the memory nor the emotion behind it should ever be cast away and forgotten as if it had never existed, as if it had meant nothing." Everything means something in a metaphysical sense, even the trivial things. At least they did to Joliette. Restoring to me my face, my name, and my honor was the least trivial of all."

I loved the fact that this book was also not too philosophical despite the boundaries of both religion and science that are explored. Yes, Joliette is consumed with her work as a scientist and shows great passion for her work, but her obsession with the king and with finding out who he is also consumes her. Just as churchgoers long to be closer to God but denounce the scientific explanations behind who we are or how we got here, there's always that boundary between stories. Joliette never sways in either direction. We are a culture of secrets and history. Gardner reminds us that societies long before us bury their secrets, their sadness, and their past, only to have later societies dig them up all over again:

"Over the course of a lifetime, one might never be able to calculate how many tears could be shed on account of death."

When Olivier reveals that their research has not brought them any closer to the real identity of the king, Joliette vows to return to the dig site in an attempt to learn more, growing even more obsessed with the unnamed king. The king tells us he's already been haunting her dreams, but Joliette returning to his grave is the chance he needs to finally reveal himself to her. Joliette's fate is oddly revealed to the reader early on in Chapter 2:

"As the passing of the world slips down through fractures in the muck-covered gravel of time, everything is absorbed into everything else. Every bit of matter, whether it be rock, stone, or bone becomes a part of antiquity. Mist, magic, or trembling lips, everything transcends in an elemental eclipse

Everything.

Every atom, every slight or obtuse particle of dust, and every swirling cloud of detritus will eventually posses the memory of everything else, etched into its core."

And so it's not about having to choose between what we believe and what we know is real. Joliette simply accepts her fate and succumbs to it, but not before her and the king share a secret that Joliette chooses to keep to herself. Despite research, despite science, despite the opportunity to be known for something great, sometimes it is just about faith and that which we hold so dear inside ourselves.

Cheryl Anne Gardner's The Splendor of Antiquity takes an alternative approach to narration, using the voice of a mummified Babylonian god's spirit, still conjoined to his remains. Joliete's fondness for antiquity has prompted the delivery of the remains to her lab at Toulouse University in France, where she deciphers the ancient mysteries when she isn't out in the field, digging them up. As she painstakingly creates a model of the mummy's likeness, he looks on adoringly from the metaphysical existence he returned to after his death.

Joliete unknowingly has the affections of a dead man and reluctantly accepts the affections of a colleague. Olivier Botton is perceived as the gigolo of academia, and she is understandably wary of his indiscretions. But if there is one woman who has the ability to capture his heart and quell his amorous conquests, it is Joliete. It is up to Olivier to prove this to Joliete's hardened heart.

One of the most inspiring qualities of Cheryl Anne Gardner's novellas is the strong, multifaceted female protagonist. Though her heroines often find themselves face to face with personal shadows or enduring extreme heartbreak and emotional challenges, they would never be considered weak or shallow. This is a more acurate portrayal of the modern female psyche than is prevalent in many romance novels. Joliete is a brilliant archaeologist with a strong intuition that leads her to successful discoveries, earning her the nickname "Gravedigger."

An examination of the effects of first love occupies a large role in the plot. "A woman's first love is, by its very definition, the basis on which she will measure all of other romantic encounters in her life." Jolúete has deadened herself to emotion and is reluctant to allow herself to experience a full relationship because of the scars forged abruptly by an idealized lover.

The Splendor of Antiquity, Gardner's third novella, is not as macabre as her other works, despite the deceased narrator. While this is one of the most addictive aspects of her writing, the mystique of the ancient world certainly creates an alluring draw to the more benign subject matter. Gardner's eloquent prose never falters.

In this short, 52-page novella, Gardner tackles issues much more profound than what the synopsis suggests. What started (for me) as an archaeological story, at times reading as a lesson from the History Channel, for Gardner sure does her research, has quickly captured my attention. By chapter three I was hooked to the extremely well crafted underlying message. On the surface, The Splendor of Antiquity comes off as a love story, a complicated love story, nonetheless. But once we scratch that surface, a world of emotions stands from the rubble. Gardner beautifully delves into the human condition without fear, skillfully weaving the fabric of relationships, crafting intricate ornaments made of dreams and hopes as well as pains and insecurities. Her characters are well developed, strong yet not overpowering, vulnerable yet not fragile. Narrated by the enchanting voice of an eternal soul, the story moves quickly from scene to scene, diving deeper into the hearts of the main protagonists with each new chapter. Albeit the somewhat overly-romantic ending, the story and its characters have touched me, for above all, they are (with the exception of the narrator) humans, bearing both the best of human behavior, and the worst.
Gardner's innovative narration, her poetic style and her respect for the mysterious, makes The Splendor of Antiquity stand well above mass-produced romance novels.

Very well executed, professional layout and design, an original and refreshing voice...4 and 1/2 stars.

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (5/07)


I was amazed at how much detail Cheryl Anne Gardner was able to pack into her 52-page novella. She has a gift of immediately bringing you into her story. Being that it is a novella makes it a good thing because no words are wasted.

Joliette, the heroine in this story, has a talent for making archaeological discoveries. In this case, she finds the remains of a Babylonian god/king during an excavation near the Black Sea. He has been waiting for a thousand years to have his spirit reunited with his body. The rites to do this are written on the walls of his crypt. Much of this story is narrated by his spirit. He has fallen for her and he watches as she struggles in dealing with a real relationship.

Part of this story is about Joliette's discovery and the archaeological mystery surrounding the king's remains. The other part is about Joliette's relationship with Botton, a colleague whom she loves but has problems trusting. They have a tempestuous relationship. Memories of a former love still linger in Joliette's mind. She holds on to the pain of being abandoned by this man.

Through his skull remains, the king is able to watch the drama unfold. He sees what Joliette cannot, that Botton really loves her. Joliette has to find this out on her own. Her past issues with Botton make it difficult to truly let go and let herself love him. She has to decide to take the risk. Meanwhile, she celebrates her find and works on solving the mystery of the king's remains.

"Le splendor de l'antiquité" is a love story not to be missed. In a few short pages, it really touched my heart and I am sure that it will touch yours as well.

Book received free of charge.