How's this for an opening line:
"Bonaventure Arrow didn't make a peep when he was born, and the doctor nearly took him for dead." Page 3The Silence Of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski grabbed my attention immediately with that opening line. Set in sultry New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou in the late 1940s-1950s, Bonaventure's mother Dancy mourns the death of her husband while pregnant with Bonaventure. Born without a sound - who could forget that opening line - Bonaventure is different from other babies and doesn't cry; ever.
As he grows older, it becomes clear Bonaventure is mute, he doesn't make any sound at all but the reader knows he has a gift that allows him to hear what no-one else can. Bonaventure can hear his mother's heartbeat and find the sound of her blood flowing no matter how far away she is.
"Bonaventure Arrow could hear conjured charms and sanctified spirits deep in the marrow of New Orleans. He could hear the movements of voodoo queens and the prayers of long dead saints. He could hear the past and the present." Page 7As he ages, Bonaventure knows his mother still mourns the murder of his father and doesn't yet know that the voice he hears and speaks to telepathically is that of his Dad. Living with his religious paternal Grandmother and fearing his religious extremist maternal grandmother, Bonaventure knows he needs to help them all to heal from their emotional and spiritual wounds.
"Although there were no definitive answers, the latest test showed that voice or no voice, Bonaventure's hearing was exceptionally acute. However, the test did not quantify his ability. Everyone would have been shocked to know that he could hear such things as the blink of an eye from across the room, or the sound of a falling flower petal before it hit the floor. They would never have been able to fathom that the scope of his hearing wasn't even accurately gauged by the sounds of blinking eyes and falling petals, or even by the sounds of shooting stars. For how can such a glorious gift be measured? Surely its value is tied to the giver's intentions, which in the case of Bonaventure Arrow had to do with bringing peace to the living and the dead." Page 122Bonaventure is a curious, sensitive and thoughtful boy and the plot quickens when a Creole housekeeper moves in to the Arrow household. The two of them have a special connection and Bonaventure learns more about his gift, discovers the difference between hoodoo and voodoo and devises a way to communicate.
While the character development is richly layered, I occasionally found myself wondering if we really needed to know so many ancestral backstories. The descriptions of Bonaventure's gift were the absolute highlight of the book for me, so I'll hope you'll forgive the long quote above. There were so many more I could have included.
With themes of love, loss, grief and healing, I thoroughly enjoyed The Silence Of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski and would readily read another instalment as Bonaventure enters adulthood.
