"There is nothing more unnatural than losing your child. Not even talking to the dead." Charlotte "Charlie" Cates should know; she's experienced both. At 38, Charlie is divorced, unhappily working in New York City as the managing editor of a woman's magazine, and reeling from the tragic death of her four-year-old son, Keegan. Ambien has provided a nightly escape, but when Charlie decides she no longer wants to numb herself with the drug, the dreams start.
The first dream premonition shows Charlie an image of her friend Rae's young daughter falling in a dance recital and hurting her ankle. When the injury actually occurs, Charlie writes it off as a spooky coincidence. But there's no denying the existence of something supernatural when Charlie later sees what happened to a missing girl and can describe her fate in vivid detail before she's discovered.
It's one of these dreams that convinces Charlie to accept a job offer she initially doesn't want. Her previous employer is publishing a series of books about high-profile unsolved crimes. They'd like Charlie to cover the 30-year-old kidnapping of toddler Gabriel Deveau. The Deveau family is "like the Hilton family, only the granddaughter is better behaved, and their upscale hotel chain was founded with Old South plantation money." Before Gabriel turned three, he was abducted from the Deveaus' Louisiana estate. A ransom note was left, but the kidnapper didn't contact the family again, and the child was never found. Neville, the Deveau patriarch who kept a tight lid on his son's disappearance, is recently deceased, freeing the boy's sisters to support a book about their family, including giving the author access to their Chicory estate, Evangeline.
Charlie is disgusted by the idea of profiting from the disappearance of a small boy, and she doesn't want to involve herself in another family's tragedy. Her own is enough to deal with. However, she experiences a change of heart when a new premonition shows her a small boy, who she believes to be Gabriel, in a swamp: "Will you help me? The boy asked, and truthfully, I'm not sure. Can I help a boy who has been dead for nearly thirty years? But there is nothing else for me. So why not try?" And with that, Charlie heads for Louisiana.
First-time novelist Hester Young may not have realized she was writing a Southern gothic, but the rich atmosphere of the American South clings heavily to every page in The Gates of Evangeline. From the eeriness of the swamplands,
"The silence is, to a city dweller, unearthly. No birds, no rushing water. Only stillness. I walk out onto the dock and gaze at the green-brown water. There's a smell I don't like, a dank and almost moldy odor, like someone's leaky basement...."
to the grandness of the Evangeline estate,
"the white pillars, the rows of French windows opening onto the second-floor balcony, the sculpted hedges and stone cherub perched atop the fountain out back. Although the home seems a bit misplaced in an area so remote--who exactly are they showing off for?--it's as picturesque as I've imagined."
the gothic mood embraces the reader much the same way Charlie's dreams envelop her.
The mystery at the heart of the novel mirrors Young's resonant atmosphere--the quiet, dark and sinister tone of a crime that, at the time, dominated the spotlight. The code of silence surrounding the kidnapping is indicative of the plantation culture, part allegiance and part fear. Charlie's job is to write about the event; Young's integration of the local law enforcement re-opening the case lends additional credence to the investigation.
Charlie's special gift--her dreams--is presented with a sense of reverence. She exhibits a fear of what she doesn't understand but also a respect for the duty that comes with it. This approach grounds the miraculous events, encouraging readers to believe instead of expecting them to let go of reality. Young's parallel examination of her characters' faith intensifies this element of the novel even further.
The Gates of Evangeline is adeptly constructed to maintain suspense and a swift momentum. Young times plot twists well and incorporates clever red herrings. She also distracts her reader with fascinatingly colorful characters who stand out in the murky setting of the Louisiana bayou. The Deveau twins, Sydney and Brigitte, reek comically of entitlement while their closeted homosexual brother, Andre, is burdened by the obligations of his family name. A gun-toting gardener from Texas, a detective from the sheriff's department and the Deveaus' young cook become Charlie's friends, providing a counterbalance to the wealthy elite.
The Gates of Evangeline is a wonderfully evocative, chilling mystery layered with themes of love, faith and devotion that is sure to haunt readers' dreams long after they've turned the last page. --Jen Forbus