Deftly layered novel a rewarding read
Martha Baillie fans, rejoice. “If Clara” finds Baillie at the top of her game with this complex, deftly layered novel, her sixth.
Daisy is an older Toronto writer recovering from serious leg surgery. Cocooned at home to convalesce, she receives a mysterious package on her doorstep. Inside is a brilliant manuscript telling the heartbreaking story of a Syrian refugee. A note attached asks Daisy to masquerade as its author. What will Daisy decide? Set in Toronto neighbourhoods, “If Clara” weaves together a number of intersecting, tightly plotted narratives, a feat all the more laudable given the novel’s slight size (only 160 pages). Besides Daisy, we meet Clara — a talented artist dealing with extreme mental-health issues; Clara’s sister, Julia, a curator; and Maurice, Julia’s best friend.
Struggling to keep her world afloat, Clara is a troubled, compelling character. We root for her, even as we are frustrated by the paranoid delusions that keep her estranged from her sister and mother. Julia is a patient, respectful caregiver to Clara. Baillie explores the limits and complicated bonds of love and familial commitment.
While Baillie mines the emotional architecture of Clara’s inner world, she sets up a smart and ethically loaded dilemma for Daisy.
One weak link is Maurice, Julia’s gay best friend, who feels slightly cartoonish, with his obsessive fascination with Bruce, a mystery man who lives across from Julia’s gallery.
Overall, however, this is a fine novel — a richly rewarding read to sink into for a solitary afternoon.