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A Novel
by Heather O'Neill
Book Reviewed by:From the hugely acclaimed author beloved by literary lights, including Emily St. John Mandel, Kelly Link, and Mona Awad, a dark dystopian fairytale about an idyllic country ravaged by war—and a girl torn between safety and loyalty.
Sofia Bottom lives in Elysia, a small country forgotten by Europe. But inside its borders, the old myths of trees that come alive and faeries who live among their roots have given way to an explosion of the arts and the consolations of philosophy. From the clarinetists to the cabaret singers, no artist is as revered as Sofia's brilliant mother, the writer Clara Bottom. How can fourteen-year-old Sofia, with her tin ear and enduring love of ancient myths, ever hope to win her mother's love?
When the country's greatest enemy invades, and the Capital is under threat, Clara turns to her daughter to smuggle her new manuscript to safety on the last train evacuating children from the city. But when the train draws to a suspicious halt in the middle of a forest, Sofia is forced to run for her life and loses her mother's most prized possession. Frightened and alone in a country at war, Sofia must find a way to reclaim what she has lost. On an epic journey through woods and razed towns, colliding with soldiers, survivors, and other lost children, Sofia must make the choice between kindness and her own survival.
In this stunning novel set in an imaginative world yet reflective of our own times, Heather O'Neill delivers a vivid, breathtaking dark fairytale of life, death, and betrayal.
In The Capital of Dreams, Heather O'Neill unpacks meaty themes around identity and coming-of-age; mother-daughter relationships; and war, occupation, and genocide. Sofia is a child at the beginning of the war and feels every bit like one, eager to grow up and be part of the adults' resistance efforts. She views being sent away from her mother's clique as a mark of her immaturity, but this only hastens her growth as she faces decisions on her own. She learns independence, comes to understand her values and priorities as she deals with tradeoffs between survival and loyalty, and has her first interactions with sex as she meets her old friend Celeste, who has been taken into sexual slavery by enemy soldiers. Sofia's very presence becomes a mark of resistance in a genocide that seeks to wipe all of Elysian culture, language, and population from the face of the Earth...continued
Full Review
(848 words)
(Reviewed by Pei Chen).
Novelist, essayist, and contributor to NPR's This American Life, Heather O'Neill is a literary powerhouse in Canada, where she was born and raised and lives today. Her debut novel Lullabies for Little Criminals was published first in the US (Harper Perennial, 2006) before going on to win notable Canadian literary awards Canada Reads and the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, as well as being shortlisted for several international awards, including the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Governor General's Award. Her 2022 novel When We Lost Our Heads was a bestseller and finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal.
O'Neill speaks openly now about her difficult childhood in Montreal — her mother decided she wanted to be...
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Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you
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Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of Empire of Wild and VenCo
Uncommonly poetic, nuanced and insightful, The Capital of Dreams is a masterpiece of the tangled threads and beating hearts that make us both ordinarily human and extraordinarily magical. I wish every girl could replace her mirror with pages of O'Neill's work, to see herself as a fierce and lusty creature well-placed to weave new worlds. The Capital of Dreams will make you grateful you wandered up a dark path and tumbled down a rabbit hole.
