Not Yet Drown'd

September 17, 2007
Kingman's stately debut historical stars Catherine MacDonald, a young widow in 1822 Edinburgh who is left with the care of Grace, the child from her husband's previous marriage. Just before she is unexpectedly visited by a representative of Grace's uncle, who wishes to take Grace to relatives in Virginia, Catherine receives a mysterious package from her twin brother, who reportedly drowned the previous year in India, containing tea, a fine shawl, and a sheaf of bagpipe music including a tune tantalizingly retitled "Not Yet Drown'd." Circumstances seem designed to compel Catherine to India-to protect her stepdaughter and to solve her brother's mystery-accompanied by her Indian and African maids, the latter an escaped slave. The journey has all of the era's fascination with the Orient, with a dash of the romantic, a little deceit and a central puzzle to keep things interesting. Though things move slowly, Kingman renders period detail-tea figures largely-with attentive care.

Starred review from September 1, 2007
Kingman's lyric, romantic first novel is set against the exotic backdrop of pre-Victorian Scotland, Flanders, South Africa, and India. Young Catherine MacDonald is grieving the death not only of her husband but also of her twin brother, Sandy. Then she receives a mysterious package from her twin, reportedly drowned in India's monsoon floods of 1821, that happens to include sheet music for a song retitled "Not Yet Drown'd" and decides to sail out to India to discover the meaning of this final message. Catherine travels with two servants, a Hindu widow and a runaway American slave, and her young, mute stepdaughter. Sandy's clues lead them through trails of opium traders, tea traders, botanists, inventors, and musicians. This is a mystery as much as a love storyor rather several love stories; Kingman explores the interracial and interreligious relationships of her four strong women characters and those around them. Kingman's exacting historical knowledge of the era comes through in her use of actual people and events, from the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822 to the Chinese tea monopoly of the East India Trading Company. Kingman lives in northern California, where she plays bagpipes and raises and grows tea. Highly recommended for all public library collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/1/07.]Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR

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