The guest room in our loft is demarcated by bookcases containing novels. People tell us that when they sleep there, they have incredibly vivid dreams, which we attribute to the fact that books are magical and potent beings emanating great energy. The writer Arthur Koestler once spoke of a "Library Angel" who causes volumes to leap from the shelf and open to the exact page with the passage you need. In Margaret Drabble's magical novel The Red Queen, something similar happens.
Dr. Babs Halliwell, a 42-year-old London academic, is preparing for a trip to Seoul, Korea, to speak at a conference. Then she receives in the mail a volume of Korean court memoirs two centuries old. She has no idea who sent it. Although Halliwell does not believe in mystical happenings, we can still read this novel as a fascinating exploration of strange, incomprehensible occurrences. The author has divided the book into three sections: the memoir of a Crown Princess of Korea, an account of Halliwell's trip to the conference, and a section titled "Postmodern Times" in which the novelist even makes an appearance.
The Crown Princess Hyegyong is married at age 10, loses her firstborn in infancy, and sees her second son groomed to become king; her husband, an unstable young man, plunges into madness and murder; the king, a compulsive leader with psychological warps, tries to be patient with the heir to his throne — all of this is brilliantly and operatically described by the princess, who proves to be a real survivor.
While reading this story on the flight to Seoul, Halliwell finds herself mysteriously identifying with this bright woman: "The princess is taking over, bodily and mentally, the princess has entered her, like an alien creature in a science-fiction movie, and she is gestating and growing within her." There are lines of connection that tie the two women together over the centuries: They both married men who went insane and they both lost a firstborn; Halliwell loves a red silk blouse, and the princess had a yearning for a red silk skirt.
At the conference, Halliwell meets a Korean doctor who by chance takes her to visit the site where the princess celebrated her sixtieth birthday. An even more surprising synchronicity is her three-day love affair with Jan van Joost, the superstar of the conference, who not only is taken by her beauty but has a deep respect for her opinion on a subject close to his heart. Halliwell feels haunted by the princess, and she is right. This extraordinary memoirist sets in motion a series of events that transform the scholar's life. The Red Queen is an exquisite read and an engaging tale about the way books can catalyze formidable changes in our lives.
