The Opal-Eyed Fan, a review

I often find myself in used books stores. This is probably not a surprise. Over the years, a lot of books and authors have filtered through those kinds of stores, and after a time you start recognizing them, even if you haven't read them yourself. A shelf stocked full of authors you recognize becomes a source of comfort. If you haven't read the books, you think to yourself, "I will, one day. When the time is right."

For me, the name Andre Norton was one of those author names. I like to poke my head into vintage book collections, many of which I've seen move from the regular shelves to the plastic-covered "rare" shelves within my own lifetime. Any used book store with sci-fi from the previous century is likely to have at least one Andre Norton book hanging around, often several. I assumed he was a golden age pulp fiction writer, the covers certainly looked like it. Most of them are very science fiction coded- space men or space ships or foreign planets decorate the covers. I love that kind of thing.

So, I found myself at a hobby store that sported a teensy used book section. While my husband and kids looked at Pokemon cards, I went rummaging through the offerings. There were six different Andre Norton books in the little four foot wide section. I decided that today was my "one day" for a Norton novel. The time was finally right.

Sometimes when I start reading these books with the intent to review them, I have to sort of make myself read them. The moment I get "assigned" a book, it automatically becomes less fun, more work-ish, nevermind that I'm the one doing the assigning! I can honestly say that didn't happen with The Opal-Eyed Fan! I found myself reaching for it outside of my normal reading times. When I got to the final fifty pages, I may or may not have locked myself in my room and shooed the family away just to finish it!

The Opal-Eyed Fan isn't sci-fi. The cover sort of gave that away, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. But I didn't know what it was, if not sci-fi. Look at that cover? Maybe romance? I didn't know if Andre Norton even wrote romance.

Having read it cover to cover, I'm still not sure what it is. Definitely not sci-fi. Maybe fantasy? Maybe paranormal fantasy? Not really romance. It defies genre in a way I find delicious. Lately, I've been so stuffed full of genre-specific tropes, it's almost put me off reading entirely. Not this beauty. It's historical fiction, it's paranormal fantasy, it's gothic, it's pirate, and more.

The basic plot is that a young woman named Persis Rooke is on a ship in the Keys south of Florida when a storm wrecks the ship. She, as well as her elderly uncle, are rescued by a "wrecker" (pirate?) and conveyed back to his little island Lost Lady Key. There, Persis is haunted by a "presence" and a pair of fans rumored to have been owned by the "lost lady," a Spanish woman who murdered her husband, then herself, to escape her troubles.

Persis needs to reach Key West, where she expects to inherit a considerable sum of money. Her uncle has recently lost most of their income in a bad financial decision. Now she is faced with returning to New York City to work as a governess, and the loss of her station in life, if this inheritance doesn't come through. Though the story doesn't mention a specific year, I placed it somewhere in the 1820s or so. One of the long lost relatives was involved in the Revolutionary War! (And for those of you interested in this sort of thing, she wore stays and not a corset!)

The sultry cover would lead you to think Persis is bound to fall in love. This assumption is doubled when the wrecker who saves her is shown to be a man of action, attractive in his own way, and noble. Spoiler: they don't. There is some hint that they might later on, after the book is ended, but nothing happens on page. (Another spoiler: she actually saves him in the end!)

I was really struck by how gothic the book felt, despite being such a tropical location. On the island is a large sprawling house that can double as a fort. It is built upon the religious mounds of an ancient people. There is a witch woman who still comes to perform their rites. Persis spends a lot of time like a spectre herself, haunting the hallways at night, and peering out over the bay and inland lake. I was surprised at how compelling I found the setting of the story, and how well a gothic tale fit in with it.

There is a note in the book itself letting us know that the author intentionally created a fictional key, but that it was heavily influenced by the real-life keys of Sanibel and Indian Key. The author seems to have also done due diligence in researching some of the aspects of salvage and wrecking in that era.

I really enjoyed The Opal-Eyed Fan. I hesitate to tell you much more about the story itself, because half of the enjoyment is in the surprise of it. It starts out simple and reveals itself in details and turns like a flower slowly opening in your hands. It was published in 1977, and I think that might be why it is so outside of normal genre expectations. Nowadays, we authors can get pigeon-holed into them, and it can be difficult to get readers to try something too new. Andre Norton obviously didn't have this problem! I recommend opening the book and reading with as little expectations as possible!

But if you want more to entice you, here are some things you'll find inside: a ghost, a poisoning, a secret rendezvous, a daring escape, intrigues, nightmares and...turtles!

Speaking of surprises, there was one more for me. Andre Norton was a woman! Alice Mary Norton (1912-2005) was a librarian in Cleveland for a long time, and a published author for even longer. She published over 300 novels, mostly sci-fi and fantasy novels. She legally changed her named to Andre Alice Norton in 1935 after being told most of her audience was young men. She published under the name Andre Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston during her long career.

Alice was the first woman to be inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame (1997), the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master Award for a lifetime achievement in fantasy fiction (1977), and the first woman to become a SFWA Grand Master ( 1984). She also gained a World Fantasy Award lifetime achievement (1998) and in 2005, the SFWA honored her with the creation of the Andre Norton Award, which specifically recognizes middle grade and young adult novels.

In addition to her writing achievements (which, wow, there's a lot going on there!) she also organized a library focused on genre writing and "popular" fiction for those writers and researchers of those kinds of literature. It was named the High Hallack Library, after a fictional continent in one of her most popular books.

I guess what I'm saying is that Andre Alice Norton was basically a legend. Science fiction and fantasy wouldn't be what it is today without her and others that really pioneered the genres in the 30s and 40s. Certainly, she paved a way for female writers, of which I am one. Hats off to her.

I have my copy of The Opal-Eyed Fan for sale in my shop here. It's actually in really great shape considering it is almost 50 years old! There is yellowing on the pages and very slight wear on the cover. I only have one, so once it's gone, it's gone!

Here are some other places you might find a copy.

Pangobooks (Here is my code: JAC197218 )*

Thriftbooks

Better World Books

*I'm now a Pangobooks Ambassador! If you use my code to buy a book, I will receive a $2 credit toward finding my next Weird Old Book to review! Thank you!