The Amaranth Enchantment

By Julie Berry

Reviewed by R. Bailey Scott
On 9/5/2009

Bloomsbury, 2009 Hardcover and softcover:
308 pages
ISBN 10: 1-59990-334-2
ISBN 13: 978-1-59990-334-7 Price: $16.99

(Bailey Scott, 15, will be a sophomore at The Winsor School in Boston, Massachusetts where she is a staff writer for her school newspaper. She and 17 other high school students are featured in a film documentary about the Oregon Trail In Pursuit of A Dream which will be broadcast by PBS in the Fall of 2009, and last week (August, 2009) premiered at The Wyoming Film Festival and at the Oregon and California Trails Association conference in Denver.)

From the opening sentences of The Amaranth Enchantment, the engaging, humorous and breathtakingly spare prose of Julie Berry grabs and shakes you:

"Someday, Lucinda," she says, "these jewels will all be yours."

They smile, kiss me and hurry down the hall warning me to be good for Nurse. Papa so tall and handsome. Mama sparkling and trailing perfume.

They leave for the ball.

But, they never come back.

Three hundred pages later, as the book races to its close, you will find yourself asking for more.

The Amaranth Enchantment follows the layered riches-to-rags-to-riches story of fifteen-year-old Lucinda Chapdelaine as she struggles to find her way in the world and replace the sense of family she lost when her parents died.

Consigned to an evil aunt, Lucinda slaves away as her house servant until, one day, a mysterious stranger arrives at her uncle's jewel shop and sets her off on a magical journey full of astonishing twists and turns, temporary disappointments and, ultimately, joy.

When the book debuted in March of 2009 it prompted a front page story in The Boston Globe, republished throughout the United States, about how Latter-day Saint women authors like Berry, Stephanie Meyer, and Shannon Hale are making a names for themselves by writing for the "safe" young adult audiences. Berry is a member of the Weston First Ward of the Boston Stake, which she serves as public communications director.

The story line is fast-paced and exciting, and the plot unique and intricate, something rarely found in fairy tales. While hurtling toward a happy-ever-after-ending, the book entertains and amuses with many laugh-out loud moments while still revealing a depth of understanding about loneliness, home, and discovering one's sense of purpose.

The focus of the book is on Lucinda, of course. However, that does not prevent Berry from inserting a prince, a traditional component of every fairytale worth its pixie dust. "What's a fairy-tale without a prince?" Berry asks with a laugh.

However, Berry deliberately does not let the prince get in the way of developing the female protagonist, Lucinda, who is both strong and independent. "It's not like other fairy tales where the heroine is destitute until the prince comes to save her. Lucinda's victory did not depend on the prince," Berry said.

"I saw Lucinda as having a lot of strength, character, and grit, which she uses to reclaim her home and identity. I hope that upon reading this girls will know that they have the ability to build their own future homes and identities by choosing the life they want to live and pursuing their dreams through education and experience. Love, while wonderful, doesn't have to come along to achieve happiness."

Perhaps the author's own life inspired the resilience established in Lucinda's character. Visit Julie Berry's house or watch her family in church and you will observe how strong willed and good at multi-tasking she really is.

Mother to four young boys, Berry balances her family with a very hectic career as a software marketer and author. She currently has a six-book contract with Scholastic, and manages to squeeze in time to write between husband, children and her day job. There is no wondering why Berry creates such a tough character after watching her juggle multiple things in her life simultaneously.

Along with creating a strong and independent character, she wanted to develop a heroine whom adolescent girls could relate to. Berry insists that Lucinda could be any girl, for she is neither excessively brave nor exceptionally brilliant. "She is a very believable person whom I hope girls can see themselves in," she said.

As Lucinda searches for self and home, Berry breathes life into fantastical settings, people, and creatures. Many female Mormon authors who write for teenagers - Shannon Hale and Stephanie Meyer, for example - create worlds within best-selling novels, leaving teenage girls hungering for more.

Such electrifying fantasy add great strength and originality to their works. Now, The Amaranth Enchantment takes magical imagery to new heights. She "paints" settings so vividly that readers will find themselves entering her imagined world instantaneously.

Berry said, "My religion has given me perspective of life and love stretching beyond this world, and I believe that the mysteries explored in Mormon theology, in regard to the afterlife, really helped in shaping my creation of Lucinda's world."

"I hope that young people will think of me as someone who produces works that are exciting and fun," she says. But The Amaranth Enchantment, while amusing, also beautifully illustrates and brings insight to complex themes and emotions such as loneliness, home, and identity.

Berry says: "It is my hope that at least one girl will read The Amaranth Enchantment, love it, and be swept away by the fantasy and adventure."


Copyright 2009