A book by the great author Barbara Kingsolver written a decade after (possibly) her most famous work The Poisonwood Bible. For me, Lacuna is equally as enjoyable in its scope and scale, and in the beautiful way the author draws her characters. We find ourselves deeply committed to the endearing protagonist, Harrison William Shepherd, whose life we follow from Mexico in the 1930s, where he spends his childhood and early adulthood, to North Carolina, and then back to Mexico.

Mexico comes alive for me in this book. Harrison, abandoned by his American father and neglected by his troubled mother, finds his way into the household of the famous Mexican revolutionaries and artists, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, who are harbouring the exiled Leon Trotsky in their home.

I found myself reaching for the history books to discover who these incredible characters were and whether or not their relationship with Trotsky – and his eventual murder at their home – were true historical facts.

They are indeed true facts. What an incredible author Kingsolver is to have woven such intriguing and dramatic characters and events into a superb work of fiction in this way.

I couldn’t put it down.

“…writing a novel is a political act, automatically, because of the way it draws the reader into a carefully constructed world-view and generates empathy for the people who inhabit that world.” Barbara Kingsolver.