Secrecy by Rupert Thomson

First published in Great Britain in 2013; published by Other Press on April 22, 2014

"Though everything was forbidden in Florence, anything was possible." Secrecy tells the story of a man who makes sculptures from wax. It begins and ends in 1701, not in Florence, but in a convent near Paris, where Marguerite-Louise of Orleans, now 56, has reached a point where "the world starts to ignore you because it no longer believes you can have much of an effect on it." There she is visited by Zumbo, who brings news of her daughter, the one whose existence is supposed to be a secret.

The bulk of the novel is Zumbo's first person story. After leaving his hometown of Siracusa under a cloud of shame in 1675, Zumbo (then known as Zummo) makes his way to Florence where the Grand Duke, impressed with Zummo's wax figures of people who are in varying stages of decomposition after meeting death by plague, makes an offer of patronage. What the Grand Duke truly wants (but must keep secret) is a woman made of wax. During his stay in Florence, Zummo becomes obsessed with Faustina, a young woman he glimpses in an apothecary. After they grow close, Zummo learns that Faustina has a dark secret. Zummo is also in danger because of the secrets he keeps, eventually including his relationship with Faustina (which would, if exposed, cause the Office of Public Decency to prosecute them for canoodling out of wedlock). Unfortunately, Zummo makes enemies in the Grand Duke's court who have the ability to learn his secrets. Marguerite-Louise lurks in the background and Zummo's story eventually winds its way back to her.

Secrecy is about secrets but it is also about obsessions. The Grand Duke is still obsessed with Marguerite-Louise, who scorned him and whose beauty made him powerless. Stufa, the spiritual advisor to the Grand Duke's mother, is obsessed with propriety and with Zummo's lack of it. Zummo is obsessed with wax, with death and corruption, with the girl he left behind in Siracusa, and with Faustina.

As the novel's secrets are revealed, one-by-one, each revelation adds another stitch to bind the characters and their stories together. Zummo's love story is steeped in the manners and complications of a different century but the story is nonetheless timeless and it builds suspense effectively as it nears its end. Rupert Thomson creates the settings in convincing detail and gives his characters a fullness of personality. None of the characters are entirely admirable -- what does it say about Zummo that he creates "perfect forms only in order that I might damage them"? -- but their complexity allows them to shine in dark surroundings. Secrecy works as tragic love story and as a low-key novel of suspense. Fans of historical fiction might be disappointed that the historical setting is not developed in more detail, but I appreciated Thomson's spare approach to storytelling.

RECOMMENDED