River of Dust

June 10, 2013
In her debut novel, Pye, the granddaughter of missionaries, addresses the near-unrelenting tragedy of missionary work in China after the Boxer Rebellion. Mongolian nomads steal the child of a minister and his pregnant wife Grace, sending the Reverend in search of his son. Along the way he loses his health, faith in God, and reputation. Grace stays behind to grapple with her loneliness, a nervous condition, bloody coughing, the threat of a miscarriage, near death in childbirth, and hunger created by famine. Pye has the imagination to put the elements in play, but it proves too much to juggle. Grace doesn't fret much about her kidnapped sonâas supposedly worrying exacerbates her nervous conditionâthough she regularly frets about her husband. Early on, Pye shows us the Reverend reflecting on his faith, demonstrating a profound level of insight into such matters, yet the process of how he feels in losing that faith isn't revealed. All the same, when Grace shows us her unabiding love for the Reverend we see the author's ability to pull beauty from this cacophony of tragedy. Pye's prose is speckled with moments of beauty, but the glaring gaps in the narrative make it an inconsistent read.