'The Palace of the Stars' by Australian author Karina McRoberts is the first book in a planned trilogy best characterized as historical fiction mixed with character studies. As advertised, the story has elements of "love, magic, and mystery."
*****
Mari Linden is the seventy-something owner of the 'BookNook' bookstore in York, a town in western Australia.
At the behest of Dr. Sakhálin, Mari has agreed to take in Michael Harker, a former policeman who was severely injured and fell into a prolonged coma. Now that Mike has awoken, he's an amnesiac sleepwalker with dark nightmares, and Mari settles him into her home to rest and recuperate.
Mari and Mike's relationship gets off to a rocky start, but they eventually become friends who like one another.
An earthquake in western Australia opens a portal in the 'BookNook' bookstore - a gateway that leads to 1904 York. Through this 'window', Mari and Mike can see snippets of things happening in historical York. Mari can't pass through the portal because of her pacemaker but Mike can....and does.
As Mike is wandering around conservative 1904 York - looking completely out of place in torn jeans, a t-shirt, and thongs (flipflops) - he attracts the attention of an entrepreneur named J.T. Gordon.
Gordon is bemused by Mike, who uses strange expressions like OK, DIY, and TV, and carries things Gordon has never seen, like a library card and a cell phone.
Gordon offers Mike a job in his lavish home/entertainment venue, called 'The Palace of the Stars.'
Productions at The Palace of the Stars feature singers, dancers, magic acts, animal acts, and so on. Before long Mike is like a member of the family among the residents of the Palace, including Gordon and his wife Dierdre;
household staff; Palace performers; children of the residents; etc.
Mike falls in love at first sight with a beautiful dancer/magician named Mae Belle, but she's unavailable, and Mike suffers from jealousy and dejection.
As the characters go about their lives and converse with each other, they reveal details about themselves and Australia. This provides the book's historical elements and character studies.
For example:
⦿ A visit from a pipeline inspector inspires Gordon to relate the story of the construction of the Goldsfield pipeline, which carries water to the dry interior of Australia, especially the gold fields.
Construction of Goldsfield pipeline
The man who designed the pipeline, C.Y. O'Connor shoots himself, for reasons that are unclear.
C.Y. O'Connor
⦿ A discussion of the Australian gold rush includes a discourse on the plight of Chinese immigrants, who are forced to do grunt work and forbidden by law to search for gold.
Chinese Immigrants
⦿ Gordon's wife Dierdre tells a story about the horrific conditions in the gold fields before the pipeline was built, saying: "People were KILLING each other for water. There were so many people; TOO many! There was no sanitation, no food. It was madness. It was Hell." Dierdre goes on to talk about the typhoid, vomiting, blood, excrement, sores, rot, scurvy, and other horrors of the gold fields, endured for the hope of striking it rich.
Australian Gold Rush
⦿ J.T. Gordon tells Mike the story of his life, explaining that he grew up on a farm in Canada;
lived in New York and California, where he made thuggish friends;
and finally made his way to Australia. Gordon's tale is filled with misery, hardship, gangs, and misdeeds, followed by redemption and success.
The mystery part of the story revolves around the unexplained deaths of Chinese travelers, who seem to drop dead on the road for no known reason. To add misery to misfortune, it's impossible to provide the dead Chinese with decent burials because pastors won't allow them in church graveyards. Mike - being a former policeman - makes it his business to investigate the deaths, with the help of other Palace personnel.
As all this is going on in old York, Mari and her two dogs - Tahshi and Leela - are in present day York, waiting for Mike to return.
This is easier said and done because the building that contains the portal hasn't been completed yet in old York, and Mike has to wait for that to happen.
Though this is a fictional story it addresses aspects of Australian history and other non-fiction subjects. In fact, McRoberts even includes a postscript with additional information about topics in the book, including: music; fashions of 1904; O'Connor's pipeline; social welfare in old Australia; Chinese immigrants in colonial Australia; Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes; health care in old Australia; typhoid fever and other illnesses; botulism; coma; camels and horses; tracks to the goldfields; York Road Poison (a deadly plant); and more.
York Road Poison
The story is more a series of vignettes than a tale with a linear plot, but I enjoyed the book, which contains amusement, adventure, danger, and intrigue.... as well as a taste of love and romance.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Karina McRoberts) and the publisher (Rocanadon Press) for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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