Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Karyn Sepulveda, Ventura Press, $32.99.
The true power of female friendship in all its forms shines through in The Women’s Circle. It’s a rewarding and inspiring portrayal of inner strength and susceptibility.
There is a connection between the past and the present. Anna is released after spending six years in prison, all her possessions stuffed into a single plastic bag. The trauma of her past is a heavy burden to carry. Feeling despondent, isolated and deeply lonely, Anna attends an alternative support group, The Women’s Circle. It’s when she touches an ancient crystal Anna connects to a woman she has never met, in a past she doesn’t recognise.
In 1770, a brutal regime torments the English village of Quarrendon and is determined to keep its women apart. Young villager Aisleen desperately seeks a way to defy the rules, reunite with her sister, and live life on her own terms, without her husband’s permission. The stakes are high and terror of punishment inescapable, but doing nothing comes at an even steeper price.
Even though she is separated by generations, Anna finds herself drawn to the spine-chilling and courageous plight of Aisleen and Quarrendon’s women.
Karyn sends out a strong message: “that we are all so connected as women: by experience, but also by energy. Being there to support each other can heal, inspire and uplift in ways that we don’t often realise. I would also love people to wonder about the connection we hold to the generations of women who have gone before us and paved our way. A connection to their trauma, but also to their strength and hope”.
Anna has a big heart, but makes such terrible mistakes. Her imperfections and the balance between her awareness of some of them, but blindness to others is an interesting aspect of her character. Karyn does it well, along with intertwining the dual timelines in the right way.
Through writing about characters triumphing over adversity, Karyn hopes to spread compassion, inspiration and connection.
