Tanya E Williams reveals a darker side of her psyche in her
second novel,
Stealing Mr. Smith--a sequel to
Becoming Mrs. Smith (click for my blog post on that novel). Tanya's main character, Bernice, reminds me somewhat of my antagonist Jessie Bell from The Silk Trilogy, only she's nowhere near so disturbed nor criminal. Bernice has a similarly difficult childhood, though—she cares for her dying mother, and
then is abandoned by her father. She’s scrappy and calculating, but for all
that she’s ‘bad’, others are much worse to her. Then she meets Mr. Smith, an actually
decent sort (somewhat analogous to my series' Clayton Bell), and after all Bernice has been through, it’s hard to absolutely condemn
her for doing whatever she can to obtain him. She does no worse than has been
done to her by others, and her intent is arguably nobler, though Bernice wastes
precious few thoughts on such concerns.
Stealing Mr. Smith is an
intriguing read. Who can help but sympathize with Bernice after having
experienced the traumas of her childhood with her? In this poignant novel, Tanya
steeps us in a historic setting around the time of World War II while sensitively
unfolding how this sometimes-devious woman is in part a product of her
circumstances.
