BOOK REVIEW: Sparrow by James Hynes

Sparrow by James Hynes may not have been the best choice for a Christmas read. It’s an intense work of historical fiction, utterly engrossing and terribly depressing.

The narrator, Jacob, is a very old man writing the story of his young life, when he was known, at least to himself, as Sparrow.

Sparrow is an enslaved boy, young but of indeterminate age, in a coastal Roman-controlled Spanish town. His earliest memory is of being in the kitchen of a brothel, hearing a man murdered just outside the barred door. He grows up in that brothel, first put to work in the kitchen, then running errands into town, then working in the tavern associated with the brothel upstairs, and finally, inevitably, in the brothel. As expected from the setting, the book is highly focused on sex, but it is not at all a “steamy” novel. Rather, the sex is brutal, non-consensual, and transactional. The other workers include the cook, the tavern-keeper/bouncer/pimp, and four female prostitutes called “wolves.”

The gritty day-to-day life of the boy is echoed by that of the other slaves, none of whom are considered people by those who are free. Slaves are objects to be used. There are moments of tenderness among the wolves, but they are fleeting and ultimately hopeless. Still, they demonstrate how unbearable lives can be made just a little bit bearable by love.

The novel is immersive. The harsh, vivid details pull the reader into an ugly but very realistic setting. Highly recommended for readers of literary historical fiction, but steel yourself for ugliness.