Intoxicated

Part fable and part vaudeville, this history of the fictional Rhubarilla, "one of the most popular carbonated soft drinks in the world," begins in 1860s England, when Rodrigo Vermilion, a flamboyant hunchback midget, meets businessman Isaac Brookes on a train bound for Yorkshire. An entrepreneur, storyteller and huckster, Rodrigo seizes on the recent trend toward temperance and convinces Isaac, who is rich, to invest in a nonalcoholic pick-me-up elixir with an "un-put-your-finger-uponable" taste. When they hit upon the magic combination of rhubarb and coca leaf, Rhubarilla is born, with the name courtesy of Isaac's 16-year-old son, George. At the same time, Isaac's beloved wife, Sarah, is dying, and his other son Tom believes Rodrigo a fraud. Violent breakdowns and recriminations push the venture—and the family—to the edge of ruin, but forgiveness, persistence and an aggressive advertising campaign put Rhubarilla on the way to its destiny. The novel is less about the soft-drink industry than the Brookes clan itself; unfortunately, the Brookeses prove engaging but not remarkable, and Rodrigo is colorful but hardly unforgettable. What is remarkable is Barlow's attention to period detail, a potent Victorian cocktail of repressed sexuality and simmering violence, but the secret formula that would make it work is missing. (Feb. 7)