"We all come from somewhere"--Innocencia by Emily Murphy reviewed #amreading #novels #WeAreAllImmigrants

This week, I'm posting a short review I did of an interesting book I just read titled Innocencia, written by Emily Murphy. I recorded the book below for Book Tube and pasted the text below that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgRsKn8ybdM

Innocencia, a novel by Emily Murphey, is set in the past and follows a young peasant girl at the dawn of the twentieth century in Mexico and the circumstances that may have led to her becoming the author’s grandmother.

It is a story that the author, in the preface, tells us that her father attempted to write but never completed. In writing this novel, Murphy presents the reader with a world that, in its details, is all-encompassing.  Reading this novel brought to mind the words of Monique Wittig: “Make an effort to remember. Or failing that, invent.” Wittig was an important French author and philosopher, especially known in the 1960s and 70s for her work in lesbian feminism.

In the preface of Innocencia, Murphy begins by telling the reader: “The darkness came from my father’s side:  the darkness of having brown skin; of a family that originated ‘south of the border.’” Later in the preface, Murphy tells the reader, “…these were elements of my legacy, and yet they were denied, concealed, sanitized. For a time it seemed that the birth of a generation of children with light skin might accomplish the feat of interring it all forever. But this wasn’t to be.”

The story of Innocencia, the name of the only daughter who saved her family by becoming the concubine (the possession) of a wealthy man in a small village in Mexico, is therefore a story about the roots of assimilation and how important it is to uncover and reclaim the strength in the lives that went before us. Murphy tells us that story in complete, compelling, and believable detail.

Innocencia, whose name works on multiple levels, is a devout girl from a religious family. In one scene, early on, Innocencia’s father pays homage to an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the wall of his home:

“The older man bowed slightly before an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe hanging above the bed. He gazed lovingly at the downcast eyes and praying hands of la Morenita, who holds all Mexicans in her care. In the picture, Christ’s mother was surrounded by an aura of blazing light and held aloft by a cherub supporting her upon a crescent moon. Her image, first seen in a miraculous vision, never failed to stir in Eusebio’s (Innocencia’s father) heart a sense of awe and humility.”

Innocencia is, in many ways, saved (no pun intended) by her strong faith; in secretly learning to read; her family’s priest, who is secretly gay but who has found a home in his calling; and an older nun who understands Innocencia’s plight because she escaped her own tortured fate as a Mormon girl who escaped a polygamous betrothal in Northern United States to an older man who also happened to be her uncle.

Innocencia is a complex novel, but worth the read, especially in light of the ongoing mistreatment of girls and women and the mistreatment of the people known as “immigrants.” It addresses marginalization. Innocencia is a novel that would also be of interest to the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, transgender, and queer) community.

Reading Innocencia by Emily Murphy, I was reminded that the past and present are not only connected but are often interchangeable. As I turned the pages, I also thought about the fact that we all come from somewhere.

This is Janet Mason with reviews for Book Tube, Spotify, and other podcasts.

Click here to order Innocencia

You can get copies of my books at your local library, your local bookstore, or wherever books are sold online.

For more information on my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders published by Adelaide Books, click here.

CINNAMON, my most recent novel, is available  on amazon.com: Cinnamon: A dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom: Mason, Janet: 9781958419786: Amazon.com: Books

CINNAMON is also available through your local bookstore and library

(just ask them to order it if they don’t have it).

To order your copy of my book Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters (Bella Books) click here: Tea Leaves: Mason, Janet: 9781594932786: Amazon.com: Books

To learn more about my novel The Unicorn, The Mystery, click here:

The Unicorn, The Mystery now available from Adelaide Books — #amreading #FaithfullyLGBT

For more information on my novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.