V, ..._ Sacred Country Rose Tremain Washington Square Press 32Ipp REVIEWED BY MCLEOD ERNIE Sacred Country opens in 1952 with an English farm family standing in a potato field observing a two-minute silence for the dead King George. Six year-old Mary- the older of two children—is having difficulties praying for the departed king, however, because she’s focused on the whereabouts of her pet guineafowl, Marguerite. The reader soon Ieams why Mary is looking for Marguerite, and the novel is set in motion: “I have some news for you, Marguerite, I have a secret to tell you, dear, and this is it: I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl. I’m a boy.” It is telling that Mary, even at such a young age, is clear about two things——that she was meant to be a boy; that she must keep this secret. And it is telling of Rose Tremain’s orig- inal, down—to-earth, often comic writing style that a pet guineafowl is to be the sole recipient of this momentous news. Tremain is the British author of several story collections and novels, including Restoration, which was made into a film. I came across Sacred Country (published in 1992) because I enjoyed a later novel, The Way I Found Her, and wanted to check out her other work. Tremain is—as far as I know~— a straight woman with little. interest in writing autobio- graphically. As a novelist, she fearlessly and skillfully explores diverse ‘time periods and characters. Still, I had some doubts heading into Sacred Country: did she have the authority to convincingly imagine a transgendered char- acter in a way that wasn’t gim- micky or condescending? Complicating matters is the fact that the novel spans nearly thirty years (1952-1980) and is told from alternating points of View (though Mary’s point of view remains central). Not surprisingly, Mary’s unwavering belief that she’s really a boy is eventually dis- covered and challenged. Nine years after the silence for the king, Mary’s little brother Tim sees the bandages she uses to flatten her breasts, and sensing they “were part of some awful secret of Mary’s,” decides to tell their father. His reaction is swift and brutal: “When he’d cut through the wedge of ban- dage,‘ he pulled back her shirt. He held her breasts in his hands. He pulled them up, showing them to her. He said: ‘Look at them. Go_ on. You look at them!”’ After being labeled “an abomination,” Mary knows she must leave: “She thought, now it’s over. Except that it isn’t. It’s now that it all begins.” This violent confrontation between an ignorant father and the child he has_ no wish to understand—like-a later scene in which an unenlightened doc- tor blames Mary’s “delusion” on menstrual irregularities- seems both inevitable and pre- . dictable, though Tremain ren- ders it with admirable under- statement. Less predictable and more intriguing are the reactions of other characters in the novel, including Mary’s grandfather, her spinster teacher, Miss McRae, and an older man named Edward, who becomes Mary’s/Martin’s surrogate father. Though these characters don’t necessarily identify with Mary’s desire to become Martin, their basic benevolence allows them to empathize with her struggle, and to attempt understanding. It is within ‘these shades of - gray that Tremain works best. Unlike many fiction writers who tack- le gender and sexuality issues, Tremain recognizes that the most devastating reactions can come from those who want most to be kind. Such is the case with Pearl—Mary’s one true love—whose failure to embrace Martin is based not on disgust but on the sorrow of losing the person she thought she knew. After Mary escapes to London, severing all ties with her past, she begins her gradual reinvention as Martin. An older female lover unknowingly leads her to the word “transsex- ual” and to a doctor who does understand. Surgery becomes a reality, and for the first time, Martin experiences doubts about his identity, finding it can be “easier to believe in the dream of something than in the something itself.” Specifically, he asks: “will Mary be gone utterly? Do I want her gone utterly, or only parts of her? Is there anything about Mary I should remember to save?” At this point,_the reader’s belief also falters, not in the fact of Mary becoming Martin, but in the idea that any one of us can find our “true” identity without losing something else. For however clear we are about what we are not, what we are is never simple, nor does it come without sacrifice. Martin’s sac- rifice is the hope of spending his life with Pearl. Ultimately, Sacred Country is not a novel about transgen- der issues or gay issues (anoth- er main character, Walter, has an affair with a man) but about—at the risk sounding like a Céline Dion song-—the power of love to wound and heal. As Martin undergoes his first major surgery, the wounds become quite literal, again causing him to question his path: “I imagined all the other operations waiting for me in the future and the pain still to come; and I had a thought that I hardly ever allowed myself to think: why couldn’t it have been simple? Why couldn’t I F Gay it Lesbian wedding Planners Same Sex cake Decorafions Civil Union Rings wedding ¥avors W Peace & Justice Store 21 Church Street Open Seven Days 863-8326 J January 2001 | Out in the Mountains‘ [21 have just accepted being Mary Ward? The answers - are: because it wasn’t. Because I couldn’t. Because I am not Mary Ward.” Some may be disappointed by the ambiguity of the novel’s final chapters when Martin relocates to—of all places— Nashville, Tennessee, and truly begins life as a man. As Martin settles into a quiet existence not unlike his rural child- hood—rejecting final recon- structive surgery—the reader is ~ left wondering whether he’ll V V‘ SAVE upto a&e ever rediscover. passion and whether this version of the American South isn’t a bit romanticized. Instead of pre- dicting Martin’s future, Tremain reaches back into his past, searching for a forgive- ness that comes too late to offer tidy resolution. Readers unafraid of ambigu- ities and seeking vividly imag- ined characters typically neglected in literary fiction would do well to visit Rose Tremain’s Sacred Country. V Travel Planning Just Got A Whole Lot Easier! wwW.GAYTFiAVEL.Z.eom 100% Gay Owned & Operated Toll-Free 1-800-842-4753 EXCLUSIVE! 30% OFF AIRFARE EVERYDAY email: gaytravelz@aoI.com ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK’! HURRY! January 20-27...Packages from $599 There are many great ski vacations availab|e..ca|| for details or visit our new website: www.GAYSKlTR|PS.com V Looking for something a little bit warmer? RSVP TROPICAL CARIBBEAN 2/11-18 FROM $999 WINDJAMMER BAREFOOT CRUISES 7/2/01 & 10/29/01 FROM. $700 WORLD'S LARGEST ALL GAY CARIBBEAN CRUISE 1/28-2/4 FROM $999 CARIBBEAN PKGS FROM $499-CALL FOR DETAILS ' Q45 & r45aa5’