CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: Anila's Journey, By Mary Finn, Walker Books, 320 pp, £6.99Inspired by an 18th-century oil painting of a young Indian woman by Thomas Hickey, which hangs in the National Gallery in Dublin, Ma ry Finnhas created a story of great cultural and emotional depth.
Finn, a former bookseller and magazine journalist (her name may be familiar to readers of the RTÉ Guide), has always had a keen interest in children's books and a fascination with India. Anila's Journeyis her first novel.
The painting, although featured on the very attractive cover, is just an inspiration. The fictional portrait created in Finn's story is of Anila's mother, who wears a distinctive green sari, the colour of mulberry leaves. Colour is one of the themes of this novel; the name Anila means "blue like the skies".
Anila is a feisty, unconventional 18th-century teenager of Bengali and Irish heritage. She has a remarkable artistic talent and an affinity to nature, and painting birds in particular. When she is encouraged by her guardian to reply to an advert in the Calcutta Gazette for an apprentice draughtsman, she is accepted for the position and embarks on a voyage along the Ganges where she encounters many challenges and tries not to lose hope of finding her Irish father, missing for years and presumed by many to be dead. She learns some important lessons en route, namely to trust herself and her talents and to "listen to your own heart's prompts".
The reader becomes immersed in Indian culture and in Anila's world of birds, colour and story. All the stories and myths that her mother had related to her as a child, about Indian gods, magical birds and mystical places, inform her world and sustain her in times of difficulty. Anila's story unfolds gently in a first-person narrative; every second or third chapter, in an italicised font, recounts a character or episode from her past. This structure takes on a rhythm, and it was disappointing when the pattern was not carried through to the end.
The reader learns about the structure of Indian society and the social constraints placed on young women in the 18th century. We are introduced to many Bengali words: dhoti, charpoy, bibi, palki, sindur . . . there is a helpful four-page glossary at the back of the book. Finn's extensive research and attention to detail is impressive. Also, elements of a didactic nature, such as the reference to Linnaeus's system of documenting different species in a common language, are stitched carefully into the fabric of the story.
To recreate the world of an 18th-century teenager for a 21st-century one is a challenge indeed, especially when it comes to dialogue. Yet this is achieved masterfully. The distinctive voices of Miss Hickey, Anila's guardian, and Mr Walker, her employer, ring particularly true. In spite of some implausibilities and coincidences in plot, the story flows with ease. Finn writes beautifully; her passages depicting nature and birds, and hopes and dreams, are particularly powerful. This is an extremely enjoyable and accomplished debut.
Paddy O'Doherty is a freelance writer and editor. He is outgoing editor of Inis, the magazine of Children's Books Ireland and administrator of the CBI Bisto Book of the Year Awards 2007