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Reviews for In The Lion's
Mouth
by Jean Harrington
What Naples author Jean Harrington does so well is provide a
fully-textured sense of place. In the Lion’s Mouth (from Highland
Press) is set in Ireland, England, and the colony of Rhode Island in
the late 1660s. As we follow Harrington’s colorful characters, we
encounter the details of clothing, diet and food preparation, rural
and urban dwelling places, weaponry, and sailing vessels. We can’t
be sure that Harrington is accurate, but she does create
verisimilitude. The abundance of consistent detail makes the world
she builds credible. Her characters inhabit it plausibly, and as we
believe in them, we believe in their experiences and vicariously
share the sensory dimensions of their lives. On these grounds alone,
In the Lion’s Mouth is worthy of commendation.
However, much else is accomplished. Harrington dazzles us with the
lure of the New World – its vast expanse, its promises of freedom,
self-reliance, and opportunity. She also gives us the historical
realities of European encroachment on the lands of others, pettiness
and greed, and the long arm of English rule.
Against this background, Harrington continues the story of Grace
O’Malley and Owen O’Donnell , whom readers first met in The Barefoot
Queen. The plight of these two lovers, now married, grows out of the
English exploitation of the Irish and particularly the English
usurpation of Irish ancestral lands. The haughty and villainous Lord
Rushmount is the local landholder in Grace’s and Owen’s corner of
Ireland. Grace, like her father before her, has defied him in many
ways. When family and friends were perishing from lack of food,
Grace took it upon herself to become a deer poacher – and thus a
criminal. It’s one thing for a young woman to be at the mercy of a
tyrant; it’s something more when that tyrant is obsessed with that
shapely woman’s beauty and fire. Grace’s copper-red hair is the
symbol of her fiery spirit, both of which Rushmount is driven to
possess. Grace has rebuffed his advances and given herself to the
handsome, though crippled, Owen. Like Grace, Owen seeks justice for
his people. But he and his wife are outlaws, or at least enemies of
authority, who must escape Rushmount’s mixture of lust, wrath, and
vengeance. They must put Ireland, friends, and family behind them.
As they journey from home to Galway, Cork City, and Dublin, hoping
to book passage across the Atlantic, Grace and Owen are regularly
threatened by Rushmount. They discover that Liverpool is the closest
place to embark on such a journey, and though they don’t wish to
spend time in England (the “Lion” of the title), it seems a
necessity. They are delayed there for many months, during which
Rushmount puts Grace in a compromising position that she feels she
must not reveal to Owen.
Harrington’s narration of the Atlantic crossing aboard the
“Seafarer” is masterful. Her verbal art breathes life into the
character of the vessel, the living conditions, the ravages of bad
food and severe storms, the ebbs and flows of despair and
determination, and the ecstatic and bewildering arrival of the young
couple to Newport harbor. Of course, the demonic Rushmount is there
as well, having made the crossing to serve as a Tax Collector for
His Majesty.
Finally, Grace and Owen reach their desired destination – the
combined colonies of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation.
Harrington involves them with her versions of the historical Roger
Williams, founder of these colonies, and Canonchet, the legendary
Narragansett chief. Harrington’s treatment of these relationships
emphasizes Williams’ respect for the Native Americans and his
insistence that their lands may not be taken: they must be fairly
paid for. Jean Harrington imagines that a man with Williams’
philosophical pedigree would fully honor the concept of religious
freedom and offer the utmost hospitality to the Irish Catholic
newcomers.
Before reaching Providence, the young couple meets Absalom, the
Narragansett leader who is an adopted son both of Canonchet and
Williams. His upbringing has shaped him to be the ideal bridge
between the two peoples, leaving him at the same time a man divided.
He is also the Noble Savage par excellence, extremely helpful to
Grace and Owen in their land clearing, planting, and other pursuits
in their new environment. Absalom, however, is no exception to the
rule that a man with a pulse will fall for (and maybe from) Grace.
The strains on the marriage, the delights and hardships of
Providence, the contrasts developed among Owen, Rushmount (always
nearby), and Absalom propel the later chapters of the novel through
many suspenseful twists and turns.
Like any good writer of historical fiction, this former college
teacher of literature and writing is a good researcher. Using the
internet, Harrington found information on the chronologies of
English rulers, key historical events and issues in successive
reigns, period dress, the evolution of Irish law, and much else.
She writes, “One of the most interesting research sites was the
Narragansett Indian web site. It was a mine of information about
sachem succession, planting, food preparation, clothing, house
construction, marriage customs, tribal lore. For basic information,
or to check facts found on the web, I often turned to the library
for verification. For example, a book on jewelry design there helped
me to describe how Owen might have crafted the ring he gives to
Grace. And believe it or not, the children’s section of the library
with its illustrated cutaway line drawings of sailing vessels made
the internal workings of an ocean-going ship of the period clear to
this land lubber.”
Since most of the available material on clothing and furnishing
concerns the aristocracy, Harrington needed to dig deeper to glean
similar information about the peasant class. She sought out “tales
of descendants and Irish buffs who had much to tell of their
forebears’ hardships.”
In blending research, imagination, and a nuanced yet highly
accessible style, Jean Harrington has fashioned a compelling,
earthy, and exciting romance that never flags. In the Lion’s Mouth
brings us vigorous, passionate characters leading their lives
against the perfectly realized backdrop of a changing world.
~ Jason, Fort Myers Magazine, September 2009
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