I don’t normally condone grave-robbing. A generally dishonorable practice, toiling and sifting through years-old dirt to tear open some century old symbol of a different time and age to dissect it and play with it, and then turn it over for profit.
But I guess I’m fine with historical fiction authors. They get a pass.
Jamie Ford, in particular. A relatively new author with novels such as award-winning Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (2009) and critically-acclaimed Songs of Willow Frost (2013), his 2017 novel Love and Other Consolation Prizes exhumes a John Doe from a shallow grave.
The John Doe in question, a 3-yr old orphan boy known only in history as “Ernest,” appears in a newspaper about the 1909 World Fair in Seattle where he was put on auction. No one claimed the winning ticket however, and to this day, no one knows what became of him. A kid without a past and, for all we know, never had a future.
So, Ford decided to breathe some life into him—if at least in the realm of fiction—and to engrossingly spectacular results.
With only a name, Ford crafts a whole new life for "Ernest":
We begin by seeing a fully grown Ernest “Young,” lost in thought in 1962, mourning the past 3 years he’s spent away from his wife Gracie, who’s been steadily losing her memories.
Even so, everyone, Ernest, Gracie, and their two daughters, do their best to cope. Until his oldest starts trying to dig up the past to promote the upcoming World Fair, the Century 21 Exposition. Suddenly, Ernest finds himself returning to the past and reliving these moments alongside a slowly-recovering Gracie, as they both return to a time when it was the *3* of them and a high-class brothel in the red-light District of Seattle.
We’re flung into the past to watch Ernest, a mixed-race child of Chinese and European descent, given up by his poor mother in China to be smuggled over into America alongside other Chinese orphans, future workers, servants, and picture-brides. Things go south for the smugglers and they stuff their precious cargo into sacks and toss them into aptly named Dead Man’s Bay, with Ernest emerging as the sole survivor. Years pass as he’s bounced around orphanages and boarding schools, courtesy of a delusionally well-intentioned sponsor, who later auctions him off at the World Fair. Not a lot of pomp and circumstance leading up to this historical moment, but then again it’s not necessarily the main focus.
Much to the dismay of his more religiously-oriented patron, the winner of the auction and Ernest’s new guardian turns out to be the mistress of a prominent and influential brothel in the red-light district. And it’s here that Ernest, employed now as a houseboy, finally experiences what it means to be part of a family, forming a strong friendship with Fahn, a fellow maid who, like Ernest, was given away by her parents in Japan, and Maisie, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued daughter of the mistress.
One of whom will be Ernest’s beloved Gracie.
The whole mystery of who becomes Gracie is incredibly engrossing, as the constant switches between present and past give readers vague, contradicting, but compelling clues.
Their relationship develops in such a deeply endearing way that it’s hard to guess what will be the deciding factor that brings Ernest of yesteryear to the happily married Ernest of today—made all the more frustrating because whenever a development leads us to believe Gracie is one girl, another leads us to suspect it’s the other.
The suspense doesn’t end when we finally find out who Gracie is, as we’re then left with the gnawing question of what happened to other girl, culminating in a deeply moving and heartfelt conclusion that really shows that in the end--Whether between lovers or friends or family, whether born from struggle or opulence; love conquers all.
However, while the characters are certainly incredibly compelling, they’re very much shaped by their setting. Ford does well in building up the Seattle of early 20th century. From the struggles of Asian immigration, to the perverse nature of the 1909 World Fair, to the revolutionary suffrage movement, to the surface ugliness/odd glorification of the Seattle red-light district.
With such dense historical content, the whole of Love and Other Consolation Prizes lends itself equally well towards an excellent late-night read, and a wonderful pick for your book-club (if you’re into such things—Ford was even kind enough to include some book-club discussion questions in his endnotes!)
In essence, Love and Other Consolation Prizes doesn’t just make for an enthralling leisure read, it serves as an insight into a different time that just a little more than a century ago. It’s charming, sometimes. Infuriating others. But it's rich in its story, its writing, and its history. One can only hope that "Ernest" lived such a life as Ford as crafted for him...
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