The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow

January 28, 2013
In her debut novel, set in 1950s New Orleans, Leganski chronicles the life of young Bonaventure Arrow, a mute child with extraordinary hearing, born to recently widowed Dancy. Although Bonaventure doesn’t speak, his inner life is filled with chatter, produced by sources ranging from other people’s emotions and thoughts to colors and inanimate objects. He can also hear the dearly departed, most notably his father, William, who was murdered shortly before Bonaventure’s birth (“He’d built up a great store of words, every one of them left unspoken, save for those telepathic talks with his father”). Bonaventure’s gift makes him keenly aware of the continued grief over William’s death that both his mother and paternal grandmother, Letice, quietly harbor in the house they share. Bonaventure thus convinces them to hire Trinidad Prefontaine as their cook, knowing that her mystical powers, which harmonize with his own, could be instrumental in freeing them from the weight of the past. Leganski’s lyrical if sometimes overwritten prose underscores the magical realism that appears throughout the novel. Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Associates.

December 15, 2012
A magically evocative novel set in New Orleans in the 1920s-1950s with a large cast of fascinating characters, each of whom harbors a secret. The prose is lyrically rhythmic and waltzes the reader through the various stories that circle closer and closer to each other until they ultimately merge, resolving the many mysterious and intriguing questions raised along the way. The baby boy, named for a saint, cannot speak but was gifted, early on in his mother's womb, with the ability to hear the vibrations of the world around him: heartbeats, blood flow, feelings of kindred spirits however far away in time or place. His father, William Arrow, is shot and killed at a grocery store by a crazed man whom no one can identify. This happens shortly before Bonaventure's birth, but William's spirit stays close to his family and speaks to his son throughout. Meanwhile, William's mother, Letice, has a terrible feeling she knows who the killer is and believes the murder was an act of vengeance. Physically and mentally injured and unable to speak coherently, the killer is committed to a mental hospital for the criminally insane and referred to as The Wanderer, or simply John Doe. A private detective hired by Letice is eventually able to uncover the truth that Letice always suspected. A fine novel about love, loss, revenge and forgiveness that also touches on themes of race and class discrimination.

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November 15, 2012

When Bonaventure Arrow was born, he came into the world with nary a whimper or cry. Five years later he's still speechless, but this child communicates better without a voice than most speaking people ever do. Instead of talking, Bonaventure listens and hears things others will never experience: the joy of possibility in the white of a cloud, the music of earthbound time in a glorious sunset, the whisper of growth in a blade of grass. And the most comforting sound of all, the voice of the father he never knew, murdered while Bonaventure was still in the womb. One day, Bonaventure's symphonious world is invaded by a new phantom, a discordant voice whispering secrets that could destroy his family. VERDICT Suffused with the mystical charm of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou, Leganski's lyrical debut novel conjures dreams of voodoo, the power of healing, and the distinction between hearing and listening. This extraordinary, evocative novel will cast a spell over fans of magical realism in the vein of Alice Hoffman, Kaye Gibbons, and Sarah Addison Allen. Simply enchanting. [See Prepub Alert, 9/27/12.]--Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2012
Leganski explores the flip side of silence in this deceptively quiet first novel. Born in the aftermath of a searing family tragedy, Bonaventure Arrow didn't make a peep when he was born. Never speaking a word, his silence enables him to listen to what no one else can hear. He is not only hyper-aware of the sounds of the natural world, but he is also in tune with the clamorous echoes of personal heartbreak and despair. Joining forces with Creole servant Trinidad Prefontaine, young Bonaventure undertakes a quest to unlock a series of family secrets to liberate himself, his dead father, and his inconsolable mother from the emotionally and spiritually paralyzing bonds of the past. This mystical fairy tail set in a 1950s-era Louisiana rife with religion, superstition, and tradition draws you in from the wondrous first page. Silence has never been so boundlessly eloquent.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)