REVIEW: Days of Sun and Shadow by India Hayford
Born into tragedy but gifted with a powerful connection to the natural world, a resilient young woman comes of age amid the wild beauty of early-1800s Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas in this incandescent, hauntingly moving epic about home, horses, human connection, and the transcendent awe of nature …
Alabama, 1813: In the midst of the battle and massacre at Fort Mims, a baby is born. It’s a portentous beginning for Emilie McCain, who has inherited the Sight—visions that come in dreams guided by an owl. Owl is Emilie’s steadfast companion, a welcome balance to her mother’s neglect. Along with the Sight, Emilie possesses an innate talent for communicating with horses. In an era when a woman legally belongs to her husband, such gifts may be the only things that are hers to keep.
The family makes a perilous move to Arkansas Territory, where Emilie becomes a master horse trainer and leatherworker. For all her skill with horses, Emilie sometimes fails to see the dark truth about the people she encounters. Other dangers, even when predicted, may be impossible to defend against—yellow fever, greed, vengeance, and the unforgiving land itself.
Through love, marriage, heartache, and hardship, Emilie gains strength and resilience. After years of avoiding emotional entanglements, she meets a man who presents her with a horse to be trained and an offer of friendship she could sorely use. But with his arrival come other tests of her will and her judgement. Finally, a shocking revelation inspires an act beyond her imagining—and may set her free to find the place she truly belongs . . .
CW/TW – slavery, rape, marital abuse, violent death on page, animal abuse, displacement of Native Americans, death of a newborn, post-partum depression, child abuse
Dear Ms. Hayford,
Last year “The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree” was one of my top reads of the year. I had high hopes for “Days of Sun and Shadow” but it’s a different kind of book and it didn’t work as well for me.
I enjoyed reading about the characters. I became invested in them, their journeys, and what happened to them. But. There are so many of them that often we’d only get a little bit here and a little bit there and then years would pass with little to no mention of them. I wanted to know more about Jacques and Madeleine and how they concealed their love for decades while living in the same small town. Did they ever see each other privately? How did this affect their daughters? I don’t know because it wasn’t shown. How did Melissa and Isaac’s interreligious marriage fare? Was there a similar community or other couples in New Orleans that accepted them? Again, not mentioned.
There are so many of these people that we only see little tantalizing moments but that’s all. Just brief glimpses before the narrative moves on. And I guess this is what happens in many of our lives, that people appear and then disappear for a while but I wanted more information about too many of the characters without getting it.
The magical realism of Emilie’s Sight is also something that comes and goes and sadly mainly deals with death. Her relationship with Owl is something I enjoyed. Certain people and “characters” (you’ll know when you read the book “who” I’m referring to) can see Owl and I did love Emilie’s relationship with both of those characters. When it pops up, it’s powerful and I can see why it’s sometimes more of a curse than anything else. But again, long periods of time can pass with no mention of it.
The book takes place over decades and incorporates various locales and includes famous events and people. Emilie’s chapters are first person while all the others are third person. Most of the story drills down to Emilie or to people while they are immediately around her but there are also a few broad and sweeping moments.
Susanna and Granny Morag are my favorite characters. These are tough women who don’t let much stand in the way of achieving what they want. Aunt Caroline, who helps Emilie learn more about training horses, is also someone I enjoyed reading about. A lot of the men though are not worth a teaspoon of spit and Emilie’s mother is a horror. There’s also a scene where I startled my cat when I yelled “Just shoot the son of a bitch!”
The book starts with more immediate scenes and moments in people’s lives. Emilie’s birth, Madeleine’s early life, or Susanna’s first marriage are vivid and in depth. I was captivated (though not always in a happy way but still captivated) while reading them. Eventually though the story becomes more episodic in feel which reflects back to what I said about wanting more from certain characters. To keep from being a 1000 page tome, not everything can be included, cuts and skips must be made. Yet the end of the book dragged me into saga territory and sagas just aren’t my thing.
Perhaps fewer characters and more time spent on the ones who are there would have made me happier. As it is, there are too many characters who are merely sketched and too sprawling a time frame. I liked what’s there – before the saga drama – but I wanted so much more which I guess means the characters and events were ones I wanted to know more about, so there is that. B-/C+
~Jayne
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I agree. I’m about halfway through, and I don’t think I’ll continue. I don’t care enough about the characters.
The Song of the Blue Bottle tree, although a bit mysteriously named, was a great story and very relatable. Days of Sun and Shadow reads more like a history book. Perhaps Ms. Hayford is reaching a different kind of audience with this one.
@Trina Morgan:
You have inadvertently hit the nail on the head. It IS, at least partly, a historical book for Emilie. It’s not revealed until the Author’s Note at the end – and I don’t know if I’d count this as a spoiler –
“In 1847, Emily McCorkle married Walker Wilson, my great-great great grandfather. In 1852, she divorced him and moved to Texas with their children as well as his children from a previous marriage. Walker simultaneously disappeared from public records. Why did Emily seek a divorce at a time when divorce was rare, socially disastrous, and almost impossible to obtain? Why did she keep her step children, and what, pray tell, happened to Walker? Days of Sun and Shadow began with those questions. Imagination supplied answers that have no basis in reality, at least as far as I know. ”
So Hayford took a historical fact – Emilie moving to Texas with her step-children – and wove a story around it. From the way she phrases it, Hayford must be a descendent of one of Emilie’s step-children.