Book Review: The Alchemy of Chance

'The Alchemy of Chance'
Author: Peter S. Brooks


Format: Paperback
Published: Tangerine Tree Press; Dec. 2010
Pages: 244
Genre: Fiction
Grade: B
Source: Publisher


Synopsis: In the spring of 1977, Aurelie Peguissoux, blind map maker, astrologer, and collector of twin towns, sets off on the train from Paris to Brittany, with her Braille books, tactile Scrabble kit, and cello, on a journey to rediscover a world she lost with her sight. Dafydd, a Welsh film-maker, is reluctantly searching for his missing brother, with only a trail of cryptic postcards as clues to his whereabouts. After a chance encounter in Dinard, the two set out to decipher the messages on the cards, unaware of a web of coincidence connecting them and the outcome of their quest to a group of strangers converging on Newquay, Dinard's twin town. The Alchemy of Chance is a mystery of the heart, a culinary road trip, and a celebration of the beautiful, impossible order that shapes our lives and makes the results of even our simplest actions unknowable.


My Take: Reading the synopsis I thought this book sounded interesting. The thought of travelling around Paris on a treasure hunt of sorts intrigued me. Who wouldn't want to spend their days doing just that. Also, I really have no perceptions of what France was like in the 1970s so the whole concept of the book sounded like a great way to while away a few summer days and I was not disappointed.


The book starts with a tragedy. You have Aurelie, our leading lady, visiting her father in the countryside with her mother for a fabulous evening dinner. She is a young lady about town but the evening is coming to a close and it is time for her and her mother to head back to Paris before it gets too late. Tragedy strikes and her car is hit. Her mother is killed instantly and Aurelie is blinded. Her whole life changes. It was fascinating to put yourself in her shoes, to have grown up and known sight, only to have color and imagery taken away in a horrific flash would be most painful. Brooks does a great job of explaining the situation and having us feel compassion and understanding for Aurelie's condition.


However, she learns that life must go on. She was born a twin and was always fascinated with twin things (for lack of a better term). One of these things that interests her is twin cities or towns. Side note, do you know your town's twin city? I think here we call them sister cities. San Francisco has 19! But I digress. She decides that after a year it is time to break from her mold of healing in her father's arms and travel around France visiting her family and rediscovering who she is. I totally get that!


So begins the fabulous adventure of Aurelie and all of her cooky family that we meet throughout France. All of the people and places she describes were great. Aurelie meets friends very easily (maybe almost too easily) and moves onto the next place sometimes on a whim because someone new will take her there.


Meanwhile, there are other minor characters we are meeting because Brooks wants us to know about more than just Aurelie. There is Dafydd who is searching for his missing brother, Hannah who is a lonely nurse, Becci the single mom, and a myriad of others. You might think it's confusing and sometimes it is but it is mainly there to prove his point: that there is a purpose to the chance in our lives. And I do agree. How often do we find ourselves saying 'what a small world!'. So if you can get past all of the characters and want a fun journey around France then you will enjoy this novel.

Cover Lust: Ugg. I do not take enough drugs to like this cover!