Review: Across the Endless River by Thad Carhart

From The Cover:

Born in 1805 on the Lewis and Clark expedition, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau was the son of the Voyage of Discovery's translators, Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. Across the Endless River evokes the formative years of this mixed-blood child of the frontier, entering the wild and mysterious world of his boyhood along the Missouri. Baptiste is raised both as William Clark's ward in St. Louis and by his parents among the villages of the Mandan tribe on the far northern reaches of the river.

In 1823 eighteen-year-old Baptiste is invited to cross the Atlantic with the young Duke Paul of Wurttemberg, whom he meets on the frontier. During their travels throughout Europe, Paul introduces Baptiste to a world he never imagined. Increasingly, Baptiste confronts the limitations of life as an outsider; only Paul's older cousin, Princess Theresa, understands the richness of his heritage. Their affair is both passionate and tender, but Theresa's clear-eyed notions of love, marriage, and the need to fashion one's own future push Baptiste to consider what he truly needs.

In Paris he meets Maura Hennesy, the beautiful and independent daughter of a French-Irish wine merchant. Baptiste describes his life on the fast-changing frontier to Maura, and she begins to imagine a different destiny with this enigmatic American. Baptiste ultimately faces a choice: whether to stay in Europe or to return to the wilds of North America. His decision will resonate strongly with those who today find themselves at the intersection of cultures, languages, and customs.


My Take:

The first opinion I formed as I was reading this book was that the author must have done a lot of research before writing this. The level of detail provided about both life in America and life in Europe during this time period is staggering. Thad Carhart vividly recreates the contrasting societies and the citizens that comprise them.

Jean Baptiste is born from the union of parents from very different worlds. His struggles to fit in with both the Mandan tribe and the people of St. Louis prove fruitless as neither accept him fully. Baptiste being allowed to witness, but not take part in, the trials of his friends becoming men, punctuated the fact that he would not become a Mandan warrior. St. Louis society never truly accepts him as one their own either.

I found the overall theme of contrasting societies fascinating. The early part of the book concentrates on the differences between the Native Americans and the settlers on the frontier, while the latter part of the book focuses more on the contrast between European and American society. Baptiste is unprepared for what he finds in European culture. The best example of the differences occurs when Baptiste is invited to take part in a hunt while in France. In Europe the hunt is more of a game than anything else, whereas back in America his tribe hunted to provide food for their families.

The relationship between Baptiste and Duke Paul evolves throughout the story. Baptiste begins as guide to Paul during his travels along the frontier. Paul turns to guide once they depart St. Louis for Europe. The two are quite friendly with each other, yet Paul never truly sees Baptiste as an equal. If anything, he is seen as more of a science experiment; take the native out of the woods and see how he acts. It was rewarding to read that Baptiste was able to adapt to his new surrounding but still keep his homeland in his heart.

One downside to the novel comes with the descriptions of traveling from one family member to another. This grew a bit tedious throughout the later sections of the book. I enjoyed the descriptions of each area, but the plot could use a bit of a boost during this section. The first part of the book is fairly fast paced and the ending moves along quickly as well, the middle section gets a bit bogged down.

Most of the story takes place from Baptiste's point of view. Sprinkled throughout there are small pieces that show us perceptions from other characters. There are several segments from Duke Paul's journal that provide uneasy insight into his character. There are also letters from Maura to Baptiste that provide insight into her situation.

I enjoyed this book very much. I have been to Wikipedia to research several points from the book and that is always a good sign for a work of historical fiction. This is a good book for people new to historical fiction, the pace is, overall, fast for a work of this type and will hold your interest from the beginning. Seasoned readers of historical fiction will appreciate the research and thought that went into writing this novel.


About the Author:

A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, Thad Carhart is the author of the international bestseller The Piano Shop on the Left Bank. He lives in Paris with his wife, the photographer Simo Neri, and their two children.