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THE SHADOW KINGJane Stevenson. Houghton Mifflin, $24 (320p) ISBN 0-618-14913-9Holland, London and Barbados in the 17th century are the striking backdrops for Stevenson's strong sequel to her praised The Winter Queen. Here the protagonist is Balthasar, the son of the queen of Bohemia (sister to Britain's late King Charles I) and the queen's secret husband, Pelagius, a prince of the West African nation of Oyo. Having completed his medical studies in Leiden, Balthasar returns to Zeeland to establish his practice. Circumstances involve him with Aphra Behn, the so-called first feminist writer. Unhappily married to a Dutchman, she is a spy for England; she steals the papers that certify Balthasar's royal birth. A decade later, after the plague has decimated Europe, Balthasar moves to Restoration England, where he marries a servant woman, Sibella. Her family roots are gentry, and her father has willed her property in Barbados, so the newlyweds settle in the Caribbean. The novel acquires new historical interest and narrative drama as Stevenson portrays the island's slave culture, where Balthasar's mulatto coloring becomes especially ironic, especially in light of the fact that he must buy slaves in order to survive. The couple endure three years of torrid heat, invasive insects, social humiliation and, finally, a slave uprising, before they decide to return home to England. There Balthasar's life intersects with Behn's again. Stevenson's remarkable knowledge of 17th-century history, culture, religious bigotry and political turmoil is gracefully communicated. Colorful tidbits —both virtuous ladies and courtesans regularly wear vizards (masks) in public, for example—enliven the text. In depicting Balthasar's anomalous position as a black man in white society, and a descendant of royal blood who lives as a commoner, Stevenson engagingly illuminates a pivotal era of history. (Nov. 3)
Forecast:Stevenson's historical novels are models of the genre, a boon to indie booksellers looking for quality. Another selling point: the publisher promises the concluding work in this trilogy in 2004.
