Kathryn Heyman's 'Circle of Wonders' Offers Profound Exploration of Family and Mortality
Australian author Kathryn Heyman's latest novel, Circle of Wonders, presents a compelling narrative about a dying woman and the complex web of relationships surrounding her final days. The book has been described as offering guidance, solace, and new models for both living and dying through its acid-etched portrait of a dysfunctional family.
A Gathering of Women in the Blue Mountains
At the heart of the story is Roni, a charismatic yet unreliable woman who is approaching death. As she asks herself "How can I die well, when I haven't lived well?", the women who love her gather at her home in the Blue Mountains for what becomes her final journey. These relationships are anything but simple—each woman carries her own complicated history with Roni.
Belle, Roni's eldest daughter, is in recovery and filled with anger, having documented her mother's wrongs in numerous notebooks. Anna, Roni's half-sister, is an uptight academic who moved to England to escape her past and hasn't spoken to her family in years. Pip, who met Roni in a cancer survivors group two decades earlier, worships her friend and resents sharing these precious final weeks.
Intergenerational Trauma and Healing
Complicating matters further, Roni and Anna's mother Sylvie is also dying in a nearby hospital. Sylvie represents a legacy of perfectionism and anxiety that has shaped her daughters' lives. Her lonely hospital death contrasts sharply with Roni's determination to die at home surrounded by color, joy, and meaning.
Roni plans a living wake and creates what she calls a "book of wonders"—a collection of joyful images and observations that becomes a sacred text for the healing circle forming around her. She bucks medical advice and insists on controlling her final days, even as her predatory ex-partner, known only as the Drone, remains an unwelcome presence in her home.
Feminist Perspectives and Spiritual Exploration
Heyman's novel deliberately centers women's experiences and relationships. Male characters, including the Drone and various fathers, sons, and lovers, are pushed to the margins of the narrative. Traditional patriarchal institutions, including organized religion, are similarly relegated as the women create their own magpie spirituality through meditation, self-compassion practices, sage burning, and listening to Hildegard von Bingen's compositions.
Roni's collection of crystals, tarot readings, and New Age practices reflect her approach to life and death. The novel explores how these women, having lost faith in traditional structures, must forge their own paths toward healing and understanding.
Transformation Through Witnessing Death
As the novel progresses, the prose softens and characters' hard edges begin to dissolve. Anna comes to realize she needs to learn "how to let love in, and how to let love go." Belle confronts the challenge of loving the world without her mother's overwhelming presence. The final sections of the book unfold with emotional intensity, described as "great keening waves, a song of many bodies and wonders."
While some readers may find the more spiritual elements challenging—the chanting and New Age practices that Roni embraces—the novel's strength lies in its unflinching examination of family dysfunction. Heyman, drawing on the feminist energy evident in her 2021 memoir Fury, captures each character's distinct voice, flaws, vulnerabilities, and particularly their rage.
A Novel of Guidance and Solace
Ultimately, Circle of Wonders demonstrates how Roni's three primary companions—Belle, Anna, and Pip—are ill-equipped to navigate life's great transitions but learn from both Roni and each other. Roni achieves her goal of dying well, and the women who witness her death are transformed by the experience.
The novel offers what its characters desperately needed: guidance, solace, and new models for both living and dying. Published by HarperCollins and priced at A$34.99, Circle of Wonders represents a significant contribution to contemporary Australian literature that examines the complexities of family, forgiveness, and mortality through a distinctly feminist lens.
