Customer Reviews

The Vanishing Point

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a tale of two sisters. One treats her sexuality as any man of any time would do: openly and without restraint of regard for social constructs. Her name is May, and this same sexual behavior has her unmarrigable in England and setting sail for Maryland to marry the son of her father's cousin. She regards this as an adventure though they have never met, and she is four years older than her soon to be husband Gabriel Washbrook. May has a younger sister, Hannah, who also does not fit into society because of the extensive medical education her physician father gave her. She stays in England to care for her aging father, but when he dies she heads off to join her sister in Maryland.

Only Hannah finds that upon reaching her sisters plantation that not only was the family's prosperity mentioned in her cousins letters false, but her sister is dead. Only Gabriel is left on the plantation, and he is half mad from grief, anger, and being totally isolated. Like Gabriel, Hannah is a born loner and her grief for her sister soon turns into love for her sister's widow. But still she has not received a satisfactory answer as to what happened to May.

This is a very well written book. The author has a lovely voice in her writing style. It is kind of a small, story and plot oriented novel, which was a relief after all the historical fiction novels I've read that tell people's whole life story with no desirable plot.

Chapters alternate as to the narrator (though it's all in third person except for the second to last chapter) which allows the story to unfold, and the mystery of May's death to be told in a very suspenseful manner. You won't find out what happened `till the end. I also quite liked the way the book was laid out-going back and forward in time from Hannah or Gabriel when they were together in 1692-1695 or May, Gabriel and Adele (the maidservant) when they were in 1689-1691.

I also liked, how for all their unusual (for the time) traits, Hannah and May pretty much were still stuck with what society excepted of them. There was no amazing feminist attitudes (which did not exists in this time) cropping up as in some other books with a strong female lead who turns into a crusader for women's rights. These were all normal people, and they fit into society as the time period dictated. They did deviate a little from the normal women of their time (adventures in the wilderness, wandering around woods on their own, dressing like boys), but in the end they still were women of the time.

Really the only things I didn't like about this book was that the devotion between Hannah and May was never really shown or explained, it was just implied that you would except it. I did feel that Hannah and May's feelings about the new world weren't as significant of a presence as they should have been, considering that they were in a totally new, very rough and mostly uninhabited world. Also I felt the love between Hannah and Gabriel was quite rushed at first and didn't develop to its full potential.

Other than that, it's a very good book. I recommend it to historical fiction fans.

Four point five stars.

For other reading on the early colonial days of North America check out "A Place Called Freedom" by Ken Follett, "Virgin Earth" by Philippa Gregory ("Earthly Joys" for the back story on that) and "Now Face to Face" by Karleen Koen (though you should read "Through a Glass Darkly first for the back story.)

Mary Sharratt's The Vanishing Point is a wonderful example of historical fiction that grips you from the first words, twisting and turning into unexpected character development and bringing to life colonial America in ways seldom seen. Sharratt's characterizations carefully build on the seeds she plants at the beginning of the novel, and she tells the stories using several narratives to shed light on the complexities of life for planters during the late 1600s.

This is the story of Hannah Powers, whose elder sister May is the town wanton in an English village. Unable (and unwilling) to find a suitable marriage due to her loose ways, May accepts the offer of marriage to a distant cousin in America as a way to escape her past. After their father dies a couple of years later, Hannah decides to join her beloved elder sister and makes her way to May's home in the colonies. Upon arrival, she discovers her sister dead, the servants gone, and her brother-in-law Gabriel mourning his wife all alone in the isolated area. From there we follow Hannah as she develops feelings for Gabriel yet struggles with the inconsistencies in his stories over what really happened to May. Sharratt tells the story by revealing a layer at a time, meticulously using historical detail to bring the era to life and fill out the shadows that surround Hannah. This is a well-told tale, and makes me look forward to reading more by this outstanding author. Highly recommended both as historical fiction and as a quality mystery.

What a great story from Mary Sharratt! I finished the book in the near-dawn hours of morning because I simply couldn't put it down until the end. And when the book ended, with the kind of ending that clenches at your chest because of a most bittersweet ending for all the people involved, I still couldn't even stop thinking about it.

This book takes you back to the times of America's beginning, with the first colonizations into Maryland with the tale of two sisters, as different as night and day in every possible way, and shows how the way they live affects the other.

Mary Sharratt's style of writing is appealing in the best sense. Her careful prose and choice of words were befitting for the colonial times she wrote about and eased me into the time period. There was never a moment I felt ripped from the time period because she was so fluent in using many of the period's expressions and words. As you read The Vanishing Point, you can tell Sharratt researched for this book patiently and thoroughly.

Allusions and themes run smoothly through the book and at times were so deeply woven with insinuation, I wondered if I'd ever grasp all of the imagery presented. And hours after finishing the book, still contemplating its impeccable style and tale, I find there are likely more suggestions of deeper thought than I was comprehending in reading it. This is a book I seriously plan on reading again very soon to pick up on more details I may have missed the first time.

Sharratt, you are likely one of the finest writers of the times and hope to read future works.

A highly recommended, 5-star read to any lover of historical fiction at its best.

Mary Sharratt weaves an enchanting, unique and believable tale, yet again, in her third amazingly well-researched historical novel. Set in the late 1600's, this book follows two sisters from England to the new world. The other reviews have explained the general gist of the story, so I won't go over it again. But I will say, that unlike some authors of historical novels, Sharratt does not go in to tedious explanations of fauna and flora, or make characters who are unbelievably fantastic (Jean Auel comes to mind, with her pages and pages of explaining the uses of a plant or how the main character did something fantastic like saving a village or inventing horseback riding.). These characters have faults, as with May who I found was rather selfish and immature at times, as well as their lovable traits. The story is gripping, fast-paced and involving. I highly recommend this book, as well as Summit Avenue and The Real Minerva.

In art, the place where parallel lines meet on the horizon is called the vanishing point. Mary Sharratt's novel is about the difference between how things appear and how things really are.

At first, sisters Mary and Hannah seem to live lives that are more like diverging lines than parallel ones. May, the older, wilder, and beautifully sensuous sister samples men like sweets at a fair. When her sexual appetite ruins her marital prospects in England, she is sent to Maryland to wed a distant cousin. Hannah's looks don't rival her sister's and her calm demeanor and sweet steady nature seem the exact opposite of the lusty Mary's, but Hannah secret training in medicine make her as uncommon and as socially unacceptable as her sister.

After their father's death, Hannah follows May to Maryland. Their anticipated joyful reunion is dashed when Hannah is told her beloved sister is dead. Bereft and alone, Hannah finds herself falling in love with her widower brother-in-law. But there are secrets and lies in this new country. May's fate may not have been what it first appeared.
Hannah's quest for answers draws the sisters' lives to the vanishing point, the place where they appear to meet but never really do.

Mary Sharratt's Vanishing Point is a compelling and distinctly satisfying historical that is heavy on the suspense. I found myself rooting for each of the main characters even when their lives and beliefs were in direct conflict. I enjoyed this book and particularly loved the way the title took on a variety of meanings as the book progressed.

"The Vanishing Point"
By
Mary Sharratt

May Powers is no stranger to a good roll in the hay. In fact, she's a little bit too familiar with it. Her honor gone, and no hope of finding a respectable match in her small English town, her father sends her to America to be wed to a distant cousin's son Gabriel. May's sister Hannah is distraught about this, she doesn't want her sister to leave her all alone with their ailing father. Knowing they will meet again after their father dies, May leaves for America and Hannah is left to cling to her few and far between letters.

Once her father is gone, Hannah departs for America to join her sister but immediately knows that something is wrong. The plantation where May was supposed to be living is all but unreachable and upon arrival she can see that the land has not been worked in a very long time. May is nowhere to be found, only her husband is left behind living like an Indian off the land. Desperate to find her, Hannah looks for answers in Gabriel but ends up with only more questions, questions that threaten to break her sanity and eventually seething guilt and remorse.

"The Vanishing Point" was another one of those books. I started out loving it, couldn't put it down. I could feel in my bones that this was going to be one of those great historical fictions that leaves you wanting more and more. Unfortunately Sharratt let me down in the end.

"The Vanishing Point" started out gripping, I was engaged with the characters and wanted to know more about them. I was in love with Hannah, found her to be very deep and wanted her to be happy with her new life in the colonies. But as the book went on I liked her less and less. May's "disappearance" was given a very direct answer to in the very beginning of the book, but then it kept coming into question, then again, and again, and again. I was sick of hearing about May from Hannah's perspective. It just seemed like the girl couldn't let her sister go and let herself be happy.

In addition, just when I was really starting to like Hannah and wanted more to happen with her and Gabriel, the book switched tones and direction and changed to May's perspective. This I found annoying as opposed to being helpful to the plot. It just seemed like Sharratt couldn't decide who to write about or who her main character was supposed to be. "The Vanishing Point" took a cruel twist from historical fiction to mystery in one fell swoop. Totally not expecting it, the story was soured for me at that point.

I also felt like at the end Sharratt was grasping at straws. The ending consisted of an elongated letter that served as an epilogue and I found it to be the "easy way out" if you will. It was almost like she didn't know how to finish the story but her editors were demanding an end. I was sincerely upset at the end of "The Vanishing Point."

I admit I was entertained, but books that leave me annoyed at the end really get under my skin. I give it 3 stars for entertainment value, but can't go over that and would prefer to really give it 2 ½ stars. After the disappointing genre twist the book just went south. All and all I was left with a bad taste in my mouth after reading "The Vanishing Point" and for that reason alone I cannot review it in high regard.

I got very little sleep until I finished this compelling story of two sisters in colonial America. One is supposedly dead of childbirth, and the other who comes from England in search of her (and who is a brilliant young doctor who can't practice because of her sex) stumbles into the bleak homestead where her sister's handsome young widower is living alone with his terrible memories, and falls in love with him. Still, the ghost of what really may have happened to her sister haunts her.

The author is a truly literary historical novelist, a rare and wonderful thing.

Stephanie Cowell, author of MARRYING MOZART (Penguin)

In this haunting tale of the coils of the human heart, Mary Sharratt offers us an extraordinary reading experience, one that takes us on a journey into the wilderness not only of the early Colonial era, but also of the uncharted territories that each of us hide within ourselves.

English-born sisters May and Hannah Powers are as distinct as two sisters can be, yet each shares the same yearning: to free themselves of the archaic restrictions imposed on them by their 17th century world. While beautiful, head-strong and promiscuous May destroys her prospects for a respectable future in England and finds herself dispatched to an arranged marriage in colonial America, young Hannah finds refuge in her own skills, becoming a secret healer and caretaker for their ailing father. Hannah's eventual passage to join her sister leads her into the tangled skein of the past, where a dark secret surrounds May's disappearance and the grief-stricken plantation where she once lived. The transplanted social mores of Europe do not take root easily in a vast new world where the `earth demands blood' and the vanishing point of the novel's title becomes an evocative motif for the sisters' compelling struggle to redefine themselves both as women and human beings. With graceful prose and a poet's eye for the inner pilgrimage of the soul, Sharratt interweaves a medley of voices and landscapes into a powerfully prescient tale of devotion and betrayal, loss and hope.

Historical novels are a double treat --- where else can you learn about the past while having a rattling good time in the present? It helps that these days we are no longer wading through huge, elaborate tomes replete with family trees and detailed maps (actually, I have a soft spot even for those). Now, although the books are often shorter, they are longer on accuracy and emotional intensity.

This is also a genre that women --- as authors and as readers --- have laid special claim to, finding courage and inspiration for our own daring adventures in these stories of pioneers of all sorts...sexual, artistic, scientific. Maybe we need a new sub-category, the feminist historical novel: fiction with female characters who flout convention and prefigure our (relatively) more liberated times.

THE VANISHING POINT features two English sisters who seem specifically designed to score points off the misogynistic moralists of 300 years ago. May Powers is a veritable Paris Hilton, going to bed with anybody in pants and finally married off to a cousin in the colonies (Maryland, to be exact) to save the family's reputation and finances. Hannah Powers is a shy, epileptic redhead who has been trained by their physician father in the medical arts, but cannot practice them because of her sex. Although the two women are "types" (the sexual revolutionary/wild child; the intellectual who struggles with the domestic arts), they are also juicy, engaging characters who invite us to identify with their struggles.

And struggle they do. Author Mary Sharratt reminds us that this country wasn't literally "born on the Fourth of July"; its roots reach back to the very first colonists. "Once upon a time Americans were the British, lost" is one of the quotes she uses as her epigraph: She is quite brilliant at evoking the bewilderment of people raised in cities and towns who suddenly find themselves hacking out a life in an untamed land, and the way their emotions and personalities seem to evolve in relation to the environment. Gabriel, May's husband who was born in Maryland, is the only character who is really in his element; the others are displaced persons, perplexed by the alternating bounty and harshness of nature.

This is a suitable backdrop for a story that is very much in the tradition of the gothic romance, heavy with atmosphere, mystery, tension, and the occasional ghoulish touch. After May and Hannah's father dies, Hannah follows her sister to Maryland, but on the tobacco "plantation" --- more a rough compound than an aristocratic spread --- she finds only Gabriel (he, too, is something of a type: He hunts, he cooks, he cleans, he wears buckskins...). He claims that May succumbed to a fever after their baby died, and the truth of what happened to her emerges only slowly, through flashbacks. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Hannah fall in love and have their own child. Sharratt also gets in some commentary on the evils of racism --- plus a soupcon of Afro-Caribbean magic --- via Adele, a former slave from Martinique with supernatural "powers" who was May's servant and friend.

All this is more than slightly reminiscent of JANE EYRE or REBECCA: the first wife --- victim or villain? --- shadowing the happiness of the second; the ambiguous character --- murderer or martyr? --- of the husband. As in those riveting classics, the pleasure is in the telling, not in the familiar plot, and for the most part THE VANISHING POINT kept me happily and suspensefully engaged.

True, it takes itself a little too seriously as historical scholarship. We find letters bristling with capitalized nouns and old-fashioned spellings, detailed recipes, herbal lore, and lavish descriptions of clothing. Sometimes these minutiae add richness and authenticity to the narrative; sometimes they just slow it down.

But when THE VANISHING POINT remembers that it's fiction, which is most of the time, it is an intelligent and gripping book that takes us to the New World of outcasts --- indentured servants, mail-order brides, failed tobacco planters, slaves --- rather than the more prosperous early Americans we know from conventional historical accounts. Mary Sharratt has a passion for her story, and it shows.

--- Reviewed by Kathy Weissman

This is a very well-written and entertaining book. Hannah and May Powers, two vastly different sisters, are serparated by an arranged marriage that streaches across the sea, from England to the New World. Though their differences are many, and though May has enough personality and moral flaws to keep anyone in their English town from truly respecting her or being able to see her as anything other than a good sport in the hay, Hannah loves her sister and is sad and lost after she leaves. Things heat up rapidly, and the conflict begins when Hannah arrives in the New World at Washbrook Plantation only to discover the estate in ruins and her sister and neice dead. She recieves a contemptuous welcome from her sister's widower, but remains by his side. The sexual tension between the two of them rises and eventually leads to the birth of their son, Daniel, but falls off almost immediately after his birth. Speculation that something dark and evil may have been the cause of May's death, rather than natural causes surrounding a complicated childbirth, consume Hannah to the point of leaving Daniel and taking with her their son. Although she suspects he may have been responsible for the death of May, she loves him still, and that is te reason most of the drama and sadness in this tale. The ending is sad, and is a mournful case of the good guys losing because of the actions of selfish evil-doers connected to them. The butterfly effect runs straight through this novel, and connects everything together in a sad, but complletely satisfying way. I wish the ending had been happy, but sometimes it just can't be done. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction with plot twists and dark irony.