In the Belly of the Sphinx: A Novel

by Grant Buday

Grant Buday’s new novel is an eccentric coming-of-age story that captures the late-Victorian fascination with ancient Egypt, auras, and the afterlife. Smart, stubborn, and forthright Pearl Greyland-Smith is nine years old when we first meet her, in 1882. She lives with her widowed mother, Florence, in Victoria’s James Bay neighbourhood. Pearl’s father was a Hussar who died in Afghanistan, or that’s what Florence has always told Pearl. But when an Irish woman named Cassidy arrives at their door and addresses Florence as Sinead, Pearl begins to realize she may not know very much about her origins at all. An avid reader with a rich inner life, as Pearl grows up she nonetheless confronts the scarcity of choices available to women. Yet while lacking in certain amenities, Pearl and Florence’s days are anything but dull, populated by characters easily at home in a Dickens novel: the earnest and enigmatic amateur scientist Charles Gloster, their bawdy, theosophist housemaid Carpy, inspector Osmo Beattie, and imperialist newspaper columnist Harry Hearne. Then a fateful encounter at a solstice fête throws Pearl’s whole future into question. This delightful coming-of-age story, imbued with the Victorian fascination for auras and the afterlife, will appeal to readers of Patrick DeWitt and Eleanor Catton. Once again Grant Buday has turned distant West Coast history upside down and created a vivid world intimately relevant to us today.

Genres: Historical Fiction

282 pages, Paperback

Published October 10, 2023

Reviews

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was enjoying this novel so much...the first 100 pages felt like something LM Montgomery would have written after a few stiff drinks. Witty, dry, with some solid burst-out-laughing moments. But then it took a turn into more soap opera territory, combined with a rather ramshackle police investigation...and I began to lose interest. A great pity...I was having such a good time.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Florence, a fugitive who settles in Victoria BC, and her daughter Pearl. This was much more whimsical than I was expecting! Really enjoyed the first third, after that it dragged a bit for me. I did enjoy all the characters in the story.

[Doug Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It combines two of my favorite genres - historical fiction and coming of age. Set in the late 1800's in Victoria, British Columbia, it revolves around a mother raising a precocious teenager. The mother has some serious past secrets and the daughter is determined to get to the truth of them. The mother has two serious suitors and and daughter has her ultimate partner in mind (a police inspector) and is determined to capture this individuals attention. The pursuit is hilarious. And, their gruff maid provides a foil. And if that's not enough, a dollop of magical realism is thrown in towards the end.
If you are reader who demands that logic rule your narratives. this one is probably not for you.
As a bonus to this reader who spent his youth in Victoria, it means even more when you are familiar with local references such as Chinatown, Craigdarroch Castle, Judge Begbie, The Colonist newspaper....

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, fast-moving and with a dash of the supernatural, this is the story of young Pearl who is raised by her widowed and very tall mother Florence of many secrets and two different admirers. At some point, some of these secrets come home to danger, while Pearl now 17 has some adventures of her own and gets involved with a handsome young man who turns out to be the police inspector who may investigate those secrets. And so it goes, charming and fun generally, but serious and crazy on occasion with eccentric characters and a dash of the supernatural.

An unexpected fun and engaging read which I highly recommend