Review: lovely style and sensory imagery
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2013
Joy Ross Davis has written a surprising and imaginative story in Olivia's Wedding. Set during the battle of Chancellorsville on a plantation owned by Irish immigrants, it begins in the point of view of the hired hand Cyrus. The planter's daughter Olivia has received a mysterious gift for her wedding day--a beautiful embroidered gown with origins no one knows--and comes out to the stable to show it off. She is in love with a common soldier, and her wealthy parents don't approve. Cyrus shows a subtle sympathy for her, and a hint of something else. Sorrow, and maybe clairvoyance.As the armies approach the property, threatening untold mayhem, the Meagher family dynamics come more into focus. Strange happenings and a sense of fate foreshadow both good and bad omens. The happily ever after ending held an unexpected twist that kept me guessing until the last page.Written with lovely style and sensory imagery, Davis' story captivated with a more superstitious view of the supernatural in keeping with the times. Not your average Christian story, it takes a fanciful and dreamlike image of life and death, grief and joy, earth and heaven.Short in length and yet long in talent and impact, Olivia's Wedding is reminiscent of short stories by writers of the age, such as Ambrose Bierce and even Steven Crane. Look for more from this talented author.