CBR18 Bingo: Maps – Kite and Joe follow and escape from the war by attacking and fleeing different harbours all over Europe.
He put his hand out and Kite shook it. Joe had the alien thought that people here must never have touched each other otherwise. There was no kiss, no hug, nothing. They were all oysters sealed in their stiff manners.
― Natasha Pulley, The KingdomsI tried to let you go, before. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d forget so quickly.
― Natasha Pulley, The Kingdoms
The Kingdoms follows the story of Joe Tournier and his persistent amnesia with brief flashes from a life he doesn’t remember.
The book begins with Joe explaining that he cannot remember anything before the time he stepped off a train in Londres (London) when he was 43 years old. The year is 1898 and London is now Londres. The English lost the battle of Trafalgar decades earlier, and speaking and having written English is illegal. Joe is surprised to learn this as he thought that England won the war. Luckily for him, he discovers he can speak both French and English.
He is a slave and is claimed by his master, who has owned him since Joe was a baby. He assures the authorities that Joe is a loyal servant and did not get lost in his attempt to run away to Scotland, in which slavery is outlawed.
Joe is married to another slave, Alice, who he does not remember. Everything about his life is wrong. However, when his master, Monsieur St. Marie, shows him a photograph from his wedding to Alice, he cannot deny that he must be who others say he is.
After two years, Joe’s memory has still not returned. He and Alice have a baby daughter, and the length of his contract as a slave has ended. He and his wife remain with his former owner, living in the attic of a large but shabby home in Londres.
One day, Joe receives a clue that might help him uncover his missing memories. This leads him to work at a machine shop specializing in engines and other custom mechanical equipment. Joe obtains a job there and takes the opportunity to travel to a remote island in Scotland to repair the light in a new lighthouse as the current lighthouse keepers have gone missing.
The lighthouse and the area surrounding it allow time travel to a very specific period in history, and Joe is quickly swept up in a conflict. But something tells him that he has been here before. His companions are purposefully vague. They know who he is but cannot reveal his identity for fear of spoiling their desired outcome.
Joe is torn between wanting to get back to his daughter, and his need to know who he was before the amnesia.
Ugh. Where to begin? This book gutted me. I was warned that it was a tough read and an emotional rollercoaster. It is also a plot rollercoaster. The skill with which Pulley keeps the reader emotionally invested in characters navigating between at least four timelines is masterful.
This book has flaws, but I loved it. The main flaw is that, as a reader, I became as frustrated as Joe while trying to figure out who he is, and there are many, many, wrong turns to finally come to an answer.
The Kingdoms was more straightforward than The Hymn to Dionysus. I enjoyed that book, but it was far darker than this one. Don’t get me wrong. The Kingdoms piled tragedy upon tragedy, but in a way that led to a satisfying ending, whereas The Hymn to Dionysus felt more like trauma porn.
I keep reading Pulley’s books because the characters are so beautiful, so flawed, and so very human. The little bits of everyday humor sprinkled in during repeated devastation charmed me and kept me reading even though I could already tell that some beloved characters might not make it to the end.
CW: 19th century naval warfare, off-page sexual assault mention, whipping, injuries, death, and children on a battleship.
