PACHAMAMA

A family is torn apart by the machinations of an evil spirit in Wolfe’s novel that draws on mythology of Indigenous peoples of South America.

Nine-year-old Rani catches a fish in the river that dies suddenly and mysteriously as he pulls it from the water. His father, the tribal chief Karòn, touches the fish and gets a strange blister. Later that night, the chief bursts into the hut where his wife and sons are sleeping and kills two of the boys in a furious, unprovoked attack. After the funeral, their mother, Entza sends the three surviving brothers, including Rani, away from the village to ensure that they’re safe from their father: “You will live in the forest, away from men, until somehow, I give you a signal that you may return,” she tells Rani. “You will not enter this or any other village unless you are bid by me alone, no matter how much time passes.” Along with his older brother, Gryph, and baby brother, Marev, Rani flees into the jungle. In the forest, Pachamama—also known as Mother Earth—watches over the boys and wishes to protect them as much as Entza does. The group survives by relying on Rani’s peculiar talent for communing with nature. Back in the village, Entza tries to bring Karòn to justice and contend with the evil spirit, Kenaima, that may have influenced him. Wolfe’s prose, framed as narration by the Pachamama herself, is well calibrated to this primordial tale: “[Karòn] walked in his lifeless way past huts and along the paths toward the village center, intent on reaching his home. His sleeping wife his target. I longed to cry out, give warning to Entza that he was coming for her.” Despite the magical atmosphere, the book takes its characters and their relationships seriously, and the complex familial relationships give the story an intense emotional resonance. Likewise, Wolfe skillfully makes the natural world a dynamic, ever present factor in the story—educating, endangering, and sustaining Rani at every turn. There are sections where the narrative momentum seems to stall, but the overall reading experience is thrilling and rewarding.

A heartfelt tale of motherhood and Mother Earth.