REVIEW: The Chase of the Wild Goose

A short review of The Chase of the Wild Goose by Mary Gordon.

This month is LGBTQ+ history month! To celebrate it, I chose to read some books showcasing queer stories, especially looking at ones that haven’t made it to the mainstream. I chose to read Chase of the Wild Goose by Mary Gordon as I feel there is an overwhelming amount of queer literature surrounding gay men, but not nearly as much surrounding gay women! 

Unfortunately, there is a reason that Chase of the Wild Goose has not become wildly popular. It has so much potential, following the real story of two Irish ladies, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsoby, who run away together to live in Llangollen, Wales, and remaining inseparable for over 50 years until their deaths. It is a beautiful concept for a story, set in the late 1700s and early 1800s, a time that we romanticize and during which many favorite love stories are set. In addition, most queer fiction set in this age doesn't tend to have happy endings, so it is amazing to read a story about two real people with a happy ending, in which here the main women got to live their full lives and grow old together.

It is the writing that really lets readers down. Overall, it is hard to tell if this is a literary retelling or an embellished memoir. The first part, beginning when the two women meet, is presented in a fictional style, with dialogue and story building, while the second part, which starts at the time they move to Wales, the story becomes almost like a memoir, using only what snippets can be found from Eleanor’s journal. This caused the book to have a strange choppiness, pulling you in with literary romance and deep insight to their lives and feelings (whether exactly historically accurate or not), but leaving you with stunted descriptions of the rest of their lives with no detail whatsoever. I felt disappointed by this second half of the book, feeling as if a rollercoaster stopped short of its first drop and never really got to the good part. 

I am also highly critical of the last chapter. (Spoiler ahead.) I am always critical whenauthors insert themselves into someone else’s story or memoir, and when this author did so in the last chapter, I felt almost angry. The ladies of Llangollen deserve to have their own story told without the author using them to further her own ideas. I would have fully supported the author writing a memoir of her own separately, but to bring the ladies back from the dead as semi-ghosts to have a conversation with her so she could be included in their story felt so odd and so jarring.

I did really fall in love with the ladies of Llangollen. Even with not much to go on, I felt that I knew them and felt their energy come through even with sub-par writing. I am surprised that I hadn’t heard of them before or that someone else, more recently, has not tried to tell their story in a better way. If nothing else, I can appreciate Gordon’s attempt at showcasing a story that really should be told. If I do come across the history of these ladies again eventually, I will read it or watch it, as I do see so much potential.

In the meantime I will continue LGBTQ+ history month with a more popular read, In Memoriam.

2.5 STARS

Where to buy online: https://www.waterstones.com/book/chase-of-the-wild-goose/mary-gordon/nicola-wilson/9781739744106

Support your local bookshop and go in and buy it there if you can!