Knowing that Karen Mercury specializes in writing well-researched novels set in Africa and having seen positive reviews of her earlier work, I jumped at the chance to review Strangely Wonderful. The book certainly was strange, but it felt so disjointed that I never could grasp the wonder of it. The author certainly did her historical homework and she writes with a unique sense of humor, but her work needs a great deal more polish.

Naturalist Dagny Ravenhurst supports her brothers in Madagascar by living as mistress to Paul Boneaux, a married French tradesman. Dagny’s relationship with Boneaux is kept secret in part because of his marriage, but also because Boneaux depends on the Malagasy king and queen for his survival and success and the very sensual queen Ranavalona would be jealous of his relationships with other women. How Dagny rose from living in the streets of New York with her band of adopted brothers to becoming an educated naturalist makes little sense in this story, but she is definitely a colorful character.

Her frustrated existence in Madagascar grows more intriguing when she meets Tomaj Balashazy, formerly of the American Navy. Tomaj has established his own happy little empire on the sea and finds his world turned upside down when he rescues Dagny from a fall into his lagoon. Dagny had apparently sought the elusive aye-aye lemur, but Tomaj finds himself more interested in Dagny. He feels instantly drawn to her, even after discovering her relationship to Paul Boneaux, a man he despises.

A note on the genre is in order here: This novel is categorized as historical fiction for good reason. Though it certainly contains some rather scorching scenes, the expected romance conventions do not govern the story. Those expecting a single hero and heroine who have eyes only for each other will likely find themselves in for a bit of a shock.

That said, the freewheeling precolonial period is captured quite well by the author. One gets a sense of the lawlessness lurking just below the surface of the characters’ lives as well as a vivid picture of a most unusual (and rather dysfunctional) royal court. Mercury also writes with a sly sense of humor that, at its best, did make me chuckle. Even as characters and situations in this novel go way over-the-top, the author does deserve credit for keeping much of her humor subtle and smart.

So, with these positives, why does this novel get such a low grade? Well, first of all, the improbable assortment of characters never gets close enough to the reader to feel real. The primary characters in this novel all have their eccentricities and areas of moral ambiguity, qualities which in a more polished book could act as positives. However, Mercury tells us who her characters are rather than letting the reader get to know them more deeply and connect with them. As a result, the various snippets of plot and character grate together in a rough collection of parts, rather than coming together and creating a world for the reader.

This disjointed quality, combined with improbable names and jumpy dialogue that at times pulled me right out of the story, makes it impossible to recommend Strangely Wonderful. I long to read good historical fiction or romance set in Africa, but this book just does not fill that space for me. With better editing and character development, Mercury’s style could work, but the results without did not satisfy.