The Fortune Teller

Fiction

Ancient memoirs, ancient mysteries

THE FORTUNE TELLER

By Gwendolyn Womack

368 pp. Picador

Reviewed by Madison Bush

If you still get upset thinking about the Library of Alexandria, then read this book.  With the Fortune Teller, Gwendolyn Womack delivers a fast-paced, action-packed story following an ancient manuscript from mystical roots in Egypt to a modern-day estate sale. This will be a big hit with her fans.  Much like her previous work (The Memory Painter) this novel effortlessly blends history, romance, and high-stakes adventure.  The style and pacing are similar, but The Fortune Teller breathes new life into the historical fiction adventure novel.

The story opens with the death of Marcel Bossard, a prestigious collector who dedicated his life to building an incomparable collection. The protagonist, Semele Cavnow, is the star manuscript appraiser for a well-renowned auction house based in New York. She comes by her talent naturally, having grown up in the Yale Beneicke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, where her beloved father was a curator until his recent passing. She has worked her entire life to appraise a collection of this quality, but nothing could have prepared her for what she would find.

Semele uncovers two mysteries at Bossard’s house in Switzerland. First, she meets Theo Bossard, the enigmatic son of the dead collector, who makes Semele question the nature of her relationship with her loyal, almost-fiancé back home.  Secondly, buried in a cabinet, she finds an ancient manuscript, written in Greek, with a note from Marcel: “Semele,” he writes, “Tell no one what you find written in these pages . . . You can trust no one now.”  If this seems strange, the note is nothing compared to the manuscript itself.

Almost immediately, Semele’s entire life changes. Death and danger stalk her at every turn. To save herself and those she loves, Semele must translate the manuscript, solve the mysteries that haunt her past, and suspend belief about the powers of the manuscript.

 As Semele is hurtled through plot twist after plot twist, the secret manuscript provides the glue that keeps the narrative on track. It contains memoirs spanning centuries, eyewitness accounts of history, all recorded by a seer born in Alexandria during the time of Cleopatra, two thousand years ago. Seven stories, seven narratives, seven characters, each one necessary to finding the truth: Ionna of Alexandria, Elisa of Antioch, Rabka of Baghdad, Rinalto of Milan, Aishe of Paris, Kezia of Saint Petersburg, and finally Nettie, who may hold the answer to everything Semele seeks.

If the stories from the past provide emotion and drama, the present-day characters just provide drama. A whole bevy of supporting characters exist, seemingly just to further Semele’s story. From the loyal but irritating boyfriend, content to play constant second-fiddle to everything else in Semele’s life, to the overwrought, emotionally immature mother whom Semele constantly derides, the best friend who starts dating the worst enemy, and the boss who gave Semele the assignment of a lifetime, before yanking it away without cause, their motives remain underdeveloped in comparison to Semele’s.   

Semele’s motives are clear, her place in the narrative secure, but she is not a perfect character. She prioritizes career over loved ones, past hurts over family. Not everyone will like her, but likeability of course is not required in a protagonist, and the storyline stands alone. Personally, as a rare-book enthusiast, I was enthralled by the glimpses offered of the antiquarian world, one I would happily return to again and again.

Will Semele solve the mysteries of the manuscript? Will she solve the mysteries surrounding her own past? Will she find true love? Only an Ancient Egyptian fortune teller knows. So sit back and enjoy the ride.

Madison Bush grew up in Richmond, Virginia. She started reviewing for the Internet Review of Books in high school. After studying history at Princeton University and working as a paralegal in Baltimore, Maryland, she returned to Virginia and now studies law at the University of Virginia School of Law.