Reviewed by Ian Lipke
Simon Smith’s interest lies in human beings and what causes them to carry out actions that, at first sight, seem bizarre. Why would a well-setup Irishman determine to attack the British Royal family at a time when his victims were perceived to be worthy and respectable citizens? One might well ask what then caused men to raise a gun and assassinate John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and world leaders of similar ilk? Smith tells of the actual assassination attempt on the life of Alfred Duke of Edinburgh in Sydney in 1868, but applies his own brand of imagination to create a vivid piece of fiction.
The character of the duke is brought forward early in the story of the shooting of the old elephant. Wounded and in severe pain, the elephant needs to die, we are told, that death at the hands of a valiant shooter is the unavoidable necessity, that in just such a way may man counter cruelty. The actions of the men once the elephant as a threat has been removed, provides an alternative insight into Man’s reasons for completing the kill. Sycophancy and patronisation are a long way from being dead.
Alfred is well trained in his civic duties. His actions reveal the polish and the urbanity that characterises the life he has always lived as a Royal son. Simon Smith presents him as a gallant soldier who can accept the trials of life as a royal immediately responsible for the troubles in Ireland. However, the officials with whom he is forced to interact are of lighter lustre. Sir Henry Parkes, Colonial Secretary to the NSW government, is revealed as a trickster who fails to realise that the assassin Henry James O’Farrell has his measure. The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church support, if not aid, O’Farrell’s bid to strike a blow for Ireland. Dishonesty and manipulation of gullible parishioners are considered as Christian virtues when self-interest is important.
Readers are invited to enter into a rich imagining of O’Farrell, the man, both before and after the assassination attempt. When considering this pseudodocumentary, I find myself continually re-evaluating the ‘anti-hero’, a man who loves his family, his Fenian brotherhood, his God, and the country of his birth but not always in the one particular order. Inflicting themselves upon him is the cruelty of ‘friends’ and the ravages of illness. The story is always made more real by the invocation of newspaper reports and court transcripts.
The mind is an important construct with O’Farrell. We are told that it has a life of its own (37). He reports that he can exert little control, it is part of his inheritance. “Half of my O’Farrell brain was forever scheming, obsessing, calculating. The other half was singing, painting, playing with words. And taking flight” (37). This rational judgment of the workings of O’Farrell’s brain is not inconsistent with “the first visitation of the sisters” (332) who opened their hearts to him and provided him with an inner peace. They provided him with charity i.e. love that is not afraid to get its hands dirty (333), love that is described with some of the most powerful and most encompassing language that serves to raise the book to the level of the unforgettable. This is language that enchants and sends the reader in search of more.
An excellent exercise in the use of imaginative power.
(2023)
By Simon Smith
Echo Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-76068-785-4
$32.99; 354pp