Fayne | A fabulous journey into the Victorian era

The least we can say is that Ann-Marie MacDonald doesn’t do things by halves.

The novelist likes to say that at the end of her research for the writing of her fourth and brand new novel, Fayneshe could have qualified to be a gynecologist in the Victorian era and probably opened her own asylum for women with nervous disorders.

“My mother always said: ‘Do your best, then do even better,’” she confides while sipping her coffee in a small bar in the Quartier des spectacles.

Whether as a writer, playwright or actress, Ann-Marie MacDonald has always aimed high – but without ever being a perfectionist, she notes. And these high standards have earned him numerous recognitions over the years, including a Governor General’s Award for one of his plays and international success since the publication (in 1996) of his first novel, A scent of cedarwho had obtained the ultimate recognition by appearing in the choices of the prestigious Oprah’s Book Club.

Gazing between the buildings of this city that she adopted 10 years ago, after leaving Toronto with her wife and their two daughters, Ann-Marie MacDonald mixes the language of Shakespeare with that of Molière to evoke the heritage of this mother whom she had to mourn during the writing of Fayne. A mother of Lebanese origin who grew up on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and who taught him to write as one receives – that is to say, with generosity.

And it is precisely this generosity in writing that allowed him to give birth, after five years of hard work, to this great novel which manages to remain captivating throughout its 800 pages filled with completely unexpected twists and turns.

In the land of the Brontë sisters

The “Fayne” of the title is a vast estate in the moors, on the border between Scotland and England. A land which is in itself the main character of the novel, in his opinion. “I have been to Scotland several times [d’où est originaire son père], before and during writing. The book is set in a Victorian, Gothic, Bronteesque landscape, and I love this landscape because it reminds me of my parents’ Cape Breton, she says with emotion. And I think my mixed heritage is the lifeblood of this book set in the British Isles. »

The novel transports us to the land of the Brontë sisters, and Ann-Marie MacDonald manages to make us feel it through the smallest details: in the evocation of the vast moors, of the cold ghostly-looking dwellings, of this restraint in the feelings that the characters must display the prohibitions and prejudices that hit women of the time.

It is in this context that Charlotte Bell grows up, motherless and brooded by her father who isolated her throughout her childhood because of what he calls her “condition”. At his 12^e birthday, he offers him a tutor, convinced that his health will now allow him to obtain an education usually reserved for boys, but that he grants him because of his extraordinary intelligence. But the past of Charlotte and the Bell family is populated by ghosts who will eventually emerge from the shadows like a succession of Russian dolls.

Her research consciously led her towards work on gender and anatomical identity, which allowed her to construct characters of great complexity. And to address, thus, the – very contemporary – question of sexual identity in a historical novel set in the 19th^e century, which in itself turns out to be a real achievement.

“For me, it was a pleasure to write. I entered a world that resembled a wardrobe – a costume workshop, as they say in the theater – or a toy box. And I take readers on this journey. My job is to create this immersive experience and allow readers to experience it. And there’s this irrepressible urge in me to entertain, because if you pay $40 for the book, you should really have a good time reading it. »

On numerous occasions during the writing of Fayne, Ann-Marie MacDonald admits to having even been fooled by the lies of her characters, as her novel includes so many threads which cross and tangle before leading us to its incredible denouement. To the point that she had to sit down and write sheets for each of the characters to succeed in slipping into their skin without losing track. But it was important for her to always take each person’s perspective into consideration – since no one is “just one thing,” in her opinion.

“Rather than presenting a certain angle, knowing that it’s not the whole story, let’s add some lenses. Instead, let’s be like a dragonfly. We need compound eyes to see many, many things, and make one world out of them,” she says with conviction.

Fayne

Ann-Marie MacDonald (translated from English by Paul Gagné)

Flammarion Quebec

800 pages