Short reviews of fiction from Australia and overseas: Pick of the Week Cameron Woodhead
Dominique Wilson’s delicately wrought novel begins as an intergenerational family saga and ends as a geopolitical thriller in the mould of Graham Greene. Louis, a French settler in Algeria at the end of the 19th century, slowly builds a home for himself and develops a lifelong friendship with a Berber boy, Imez. Six decades later, Algeria has thrown off the colonial yoke. Louis’ granddaughter Nicolette – an Australian immersed in a new career as an international photojournalist, after tragedy destroys her young family – returns to the Algeria of her childhood. Much has changed. When the country’s popular president dies, terrorist strife erupts, with Nicolette caught in the crossfire. That Devil’s Madness is skilled and suspenseful fiction, its meticulous research worn lightly, its dual narratives handled with dexterity. [The Age – Entertainment] [Sydney Morning Herald – Entertainment] [The Canberra Times] [The Examiner]
Books You Won’t Be Able To Put Down In 2016: That Devil’s Madness by Barry Dick 30 January 2016
Nicolette de Dercou has experienced an almost overwhelming personal tragedy but when she returns to the country of her birth, Algiers, she encounters tragedies on a daily basis. She is the grand-daughter of a Frenchman who settled in Algiers in 1896 under a government-sponsored program to farm land. Algiers is a dramatic and unforgiving setting for this intriguing second novel from this Adelaide-based writer, born in Algiers to French parents. The tale is spread across a century and binds families from various religious and ethnic backgrounds.
As a photojournalist for a Melbourne newspaper, Nicolette goes to Algiers to cover the illness and death of the president. She tries to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and rekindle childhood friendships, only to find herself caught up in a brutal civil war that tests those friendships. She falls in with experienced, if slightly shady war correspondents who look out for her, until she gets in the way. The bombings and the killings and photographs are graphically described, but in light of ISIS atrocities they are alarmingly relevant. The conclusion is not unexpected, but manages to shock. Wilson knows her setting and build characters delightfully. Verdict: memorable
Book review: That Devil’s Madness Lou Heinrich, InDaily
Wednesday March 23, 2016
Adelaide author Dominique Wilson interweaves past and present in her story of war zones, family and the battles of the heart.
Can we outrun the past? Is it possible to escape anguish? In That Devil’s Madness, a family attempts to be freed from the landscape of their suffering, only to find that sorrow lives within.
Sablières, a village near Lyon, becomes a desolate place for Marius when he buries his wife Pauline in 1896. Compelled by the promise of a government-granted plot of land, he leaves behind three sons and travels to Algiers with his youngest, Louis.Read More
They travel over land and sea and are met with sandstorms, thieves and, when they arrive, hard ground. But with the help of a local Berber family, Marius and Louis make their life anew.
Eighty years later, Louis’s granddaughter Nicolette clings to a doomed relationship. After growing up in the war zone of Algiers, her family arrived in Australia when she was 10. When we meet her, she is escaping Adelaide for a rural shack, desperate to leave behind a pattern of addiction. Her isolation leads to a family tragedy.
The story then skips a few years to Nicolette as a cadet photo-journalist at The Herald in Melbourne. She is one of few women on the team, patronised and dismissed by senior male staff. This, combined with an urge to rediscover her childhood in Algieria, lead to her taking an assignment to cover the death of that country’s president. The settings, as she travels through Marseilles and Algiers, are vast and exotic, making for a colourful reading landscape.
Wilson paints vibrant scenes, placing protagonists in the right place at the right time, allowing the personal witnessing of historical events. Death propels the characters to movement; by leaving the site of loss, Nicolette, Marius and Louis intend to escape the landscape of their suffering, certain of a brighter horizon.
“Was it really that easy,” Nicolette muses, “just pack up and go, and all your problems will stay behind?”
That Devil’s Madness has similar themes to 2014 historical novel The Secret Son, by Jenny Ackland, interweaving the dual histories of Australia and a Middle Eastern country. Like The Secret Son, That Devil’s Madness sweeps through the 20th century, illustrating the war that destroyed millions of lives, but also forged bonds between individuals. Perhaps this repetition of themes indicates the widespread acknowledgement of Australia’s multicultural foundation.
In That Devil’s Madness, Wilson meditates on the idea of escaping horror, and the psychic location of pain. How are we released from suffering – is it in the leaving of sites of misery, or the returning?
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson February 18, 2016 • by samstillreading
In brief: Nicolette’s grandfather and great-grandfather left France for Algeria for a better life. Many years later, the family left for Australia for the same reasons. Nicolette returns as a photojournalist to cover President Boumedienne’s last days, but the Algeria she knows has gone. She won’t accept the differences without a struggle.
The good: Very readable and incredibly interesting. The not-so-good: The ending! Didn’t see that coming! Why I chose it: Thank you to Transit Lounge for the copy. Year: 2016 Pages: 343 Publisher: Transit Lounge Setting: Australia, France and Algeria My rating: 9 out of 10
I know very little about Algeria, besides some bits on TV and where to find it on a map. I like to learn more about places by reading (particularly fiction) so That Devil’s Madness intrigued me. I wasn’t expecting an incredibly good story that had me on the edge of my seat reading into the night. The story combines powerful emotion with history, loyalty and reflection on the past.
Initially the story begins in two separate narratives, linked by family. Louis is a boy leaving poverty in France for the wide expanses of Algeria with his father in 1896. Algeria is a whole new world with space, sand and opportunity. Louis and his father Marius set about building a farm and livelihood far away from the capital of Algiers. They become friends with the Berbers, a friendship that will last for generations until it is brutally severed in the unrest post World War II. It’s a fascinating story, filled with detail and politics that only become more complex as time goes on.
The second narrative opens in Australia in the late 1960s as Nicolette moves to the country with her husband and child. What happens next is brutal and shocking. Later, we meet her again as an emerging photojournalist, wanting to cover the illness of President Boumedienne in Algeria. Determined to do it, Nicolette takes her holiday leave and meets up with Steven, a friend of a colleague and experienced journalist. He’s there to stop Nicolette from making rookie mistakes and believing Algeria is the same place that she left as a child…but both of them are more than what they appear.
Eventually, the two narratives come together. I was sad to leave Louis’ story but Nicolette’s thread linked the missing pieces and explained why things had become what they did. The two narratives are expertly interwoven, Wilson has the knack of knowing at the right moment when to switch and when to offer a titbit from the past that explains why the modern characters are acting the way they do. As for the ending, it was shocking and unexpected to me but I really admire Wilson for doing what she did. That kind of explosive ending takes guts and resulted in the story packing an even greater punch in my memory. (While I say it was unexpected, it did fit in perfectly with how the characters were portrayed throughout the book. It fit in with their motives and added to the allure of Algeria as a place of where nothing is as it seems).
That Devil’s Madness is a captivating story that engaged me fully – the characters were intriguing and the story of Algeria fascinated me in a way that no history book does. It’s well written and definitely worth a read. I know literary fiction can sometimes be tainted with the ‘dull’ tag but this novel defies the stereotypes and combines skilled writing with a fast paced storyline that also reflects on history, religion, freedom and duty.
Review: THAT DEVIL’S MADNESS by Dominique Wilson Reviewer: Monique Mulligan Posted on February 3, 2016 Write Note Reviews
Dominique Wilson’s first novel The Yellow Papers was an outstanding read, and the same can be said of That Devil’s Madness. Her writing is finely crafted, her prose poetic and subtle, and a joy to read.
That Devil’s Madness takes readers from Australia to Algeria, following the dual and interconnected stories of Nicolette, an Australian photojournalist in the 1970s, and her predecessors, who moved to Africa’s north in search of a better life in 1896. Through Louis (and his father’s viewpoints) readers discover the challenges facing settlers to the area, not the least the clash of cultures between the tribes and settlers. Louis, following the footsteps of his father, befriends a Berber boy, and despite their differences, they become like brothers. But is there a tipping point for friendship? What happens when politics get in the way? Read More
Years later, Nicolette returns to her childhood home; her official brief is to cover the illness and eventual death of Algerian President Boumedienne, but she has her own agenda – to find her childhood friends and reconnect with them. She’s never forgotten those carefree days, and despite the highly tense political situation and danger that flares unexpectedly, wants to restore the bonds her grandfather once built. She’s shocked to find that the rules have changed. What once was, is no more. But is she looking at the past with rose-coloured glasses, with childish idealism? Or did she just faze out what she didn’t want to see back then?
That Devil’s Madness simmers with emotional tension from start to finish, and paints a multi-layered portrait of conflict: idealism versus duty, friendship versus loyalty, war versus peace, tradition versus progression, male roles versus female roles. Although it’s set in between 1896 to the 1970s, it’s startlingly relevant to modern readers – these conflicts exist every day, all over the world. Wilson explores conflict in all its fragility, contrariness, power and uncertainty, in a manner that holds no punches, but saves the biggest for the end.
The specific nature of the Algerian conflict was new to me; it’s powerful reading. I felt the fight for dignity, respect and freedom as much as the emotional conflicts between the various characters. This aspect of the novel fascinated me. Wilson also explores, through Nicolette, the struggle for women to feel respected in what was then, and often still is, a man’s world. Her fight to become a photojournalist struck a chord with me, not because I had that same fight, but because I’ve worked in newspapers and I understand that drive to tell a story, no matter the medium.
Wilson is an undervalued literary writer with a gift for words. I’d like to see her get some more attention.
Available from good bookstores. My copy was courtesy of Transit Lounge.
Book Review – That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson Posted 21 January 2016 by Jo
Having admired the moving storyline in Dominique Wilson’s 2014 novel The Yellow Papers, I was looking forward to seeing what weighty subject matter she would tackle next. That Devil’s Madness, her venture into the tumultuous history of her birth place Algeria, surpassed my expectations.
This is a story that is both intimate and epic. It is a story about emotional scar tissue – its creation and the devastating effects it can have on generations that follow. Through the plight of individuals Wilson highlights the unfathomable harm and deprivation we humans inflict upon one another. Read More
In addition to the uncompromising storyline, what really stood out for me in That Devil’s Madness is Wilson’s maturing talent as a novelist.
On reflection, just how complex the intertwining and reflective narrative structure is and how skilfully it has been employed is a thing to be admired.
And Wilson’s prose… she has evoked something special in her character development and depiction of place and mood that is hard to describe. The scenes and interactions felt so anchored in reality, the emotions raw and the fear palpable, as though I were watching a documentary rather than reading a work of fiction.
Combine this character presence with the brutality of the events depicted and the result is heart wrenching.
That Devil’s Madness is a powerful and compelling novel from a very talented Australian author. I sincerely hope it garners the audience and acclaim it deserves. [ Booklover Book Reviews ]
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson Posted by Lisa Hill: Jan 17, 2016
That Devil’s Madness is the second novel of Dominique Wilson, who wrote The Yellow Papers, a book I really liked. (See my review). This book is even better, signalling to me that Dominique Wilson is an author to follow.
It’s a fascinating novel, set mostly in North African Algeria, formerly a French colony until its post-war independence. Read full review here: ANZLitLovers
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson – a timely read by Elizabeth Lhuede: January 14, 2016
Wow! What a timely read.
The structure of That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson is almost a double helix, seeming parallel narratives of France and Algeria from the late 19th century onwards, and Australia and Algeria in the 1960s. It follows the fates of four generations of French-Algerian-Australian immigrants and Algerian Berbers, narratives which come together in a thriller-like denouement.
The main point of view character is a novice photo-journalist, Nicolette de Dercou, who as a child immigrated to Australia from Algeria with her mother and grandfather, and who returns there to re-connect with childhood friends and cover the news of the president’s imminent death. Nicolette gets caught up in turbulent events as Berbers fight for liberation from the oppression they have suffered since Algeria’s independence from France after World War Two, a historical struggle illuminated by the other narrative which follows Nicolette’s great-grandfather from France to Algeria and her grandfather from Algeria to Australia. Read More
This story interests me on numerous levels. It illuminates the complexity of post-colonialism and Christian-Muslim relations in North Africa; it gives a historical context for present-day political unrest, dissatisfaction with injustice and the root causes of terrorism; and it acts as a reminder for Australian readers of the tentativeness of our claims to sovereignty over Indigenous lands, and the historical and cultural blindness that attends our attitudes to “boat people”.
The novel also highlights the technical difficulty of wielding two disparate narratives. The risk is that the reader might temporarily lose interest at the point of changeover – not for lack of engagement, but because of their investment with the narrative thread already underway. Wilson manages to hold the reader’s attention in both stories until they come together in a powerful ending: no mean feat! [ Devotedly Eclectic ]
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson (Goodreads Author)
Linda Fagioli-Katsiotas‘s review: Dec 23, 2015
Read from December 02 to 23, 2015
The art of good historical fiction is in the adeptness of which the author sneaks in the history lesson while the reader is mesmerized by the tale. Wilson does this beautifully. The French occupation of Algeria and the subsequent struggle for independence was something I knew nothing about which is one reason I probably would not have chosen to read this book, if not for the fact that I love the author’s previous work, The Yellow Pages, and I was given this book as a gift.
That Devil’s Madness alternates between two time periods but the story is seamless. In classic Wilson style, she sprints through the early history—but for those impatient readers I say don’t despair—the book quickly latches onto the main character’s story. Nicolette’s relationships are brought to fruition and as she finds herself searching for her past the story takes a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat, turn—until you flip the last page and think: academy-award movie script? Read More
But it’s not just a spellbinding story. Between subtle comments on religion such as, “More out of long forgotten habit than faith, [she] dipped two fingers in the holy water of the font,” and fascinating descriptions of customs and traditions, Wilson weaves a tale of friendship, betrayal, love and atrocity. My absolute favorite line—though there are many to choose from: “Independence isn’t the same as freedom . . .” My only complaint is that I’ve finished the book and now have to wait, who knows how long, for the next Wilson saga. [ Goodreads ]
Short reviews of fiction from Australia and overseas: Pick of the Week
Books You Won’t Be Able To Put Down In 2016: That Devil’s Madness
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson
Review: THAT DEVIL’S MADNESS by Dominique Wilson 
Book Review – That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson (Goodreads Author)
