entirely ruined her disposition with books

by corvidology 

So apparently we're talking about canons we love this month. I do not have any well-planned and -crafted posts to share with you, but I absolutely will post a few things totally off-the-cuff over the next few weeks because why not?

If you've been around here long, you won't be surprised with where I start.

The story: The Benjamin January series is a set of mystery novels written by Barbara Hambly, who has a long, prolific, and wide-ranging career in specfic. This series, however, is historical fiction set in New Orleans and the 1830s and 1840s. Each book is a stand-alone, but we're always visiting the same characters and some things do build on each other, so it's the best of both worlds.

Our protagonist is Benjamin January (or Janvier, as he's referred to in French), the eponymous Free Man of Color of the first book. He was born into slavery, then his mother became the mistress (placée) of a rich planter and he was freed. He lived in Paris for a while and trained as a doctor, and he's a good one, but it turns out that white people don't want black doctors tending to them, so he can't make money that way. Instead, he works as a musician.

The first book sees him returning to New Orleans after his long absence in Paris. He had sworn never to return to America for obvious reasons (racism--it's bad in Paris, but it's a million times worse in New Orleans), but after his wife dies, he can't stay in the city she loved. So it's back to New Orleans for him, where he is immediately pulled back into the rich social tapestry of relations and acquaintances and enemies that he fled over a decade before.

He's not exactly happy to be back.

Through a series of events, he gets sucked (against his will) into the world of murder and intrigue that hides beneath New Orlean's thin veneer of glamour. Every book has him solving a mystery (usually but not always a murder). He never really wants to do this--he just wants to be left alone--but his unique skills and his conscience (and sometimes need for money) keep getting him entangled in these things. Each book has a different focus--there's one that has as its backdrop the historical pirates of Louisiana, there's one set in an opera house, one where Ben goes undercover on a sugar plantation, etc. He (and various family/friends) end up taking some trips elsewhere--to Mexico, to Washington DC, to the western frontier, etc.--in a handful of the books. But they always take their backgrounds with them.

The setting: I hesitate to use the word "worldbuilding" about a historical period, but there's really no other way to convey to you how rich and nuanced the world of antebellum New Orleans is. The pleasure of reading about it (even its darkest aspects) is the same pleasure of reading about a well-realized fantasy world.

The culture of antebellum New Orleans is so particular and complex that there's a learning curve with these books that is the equivalent of reading a second-world fantasy novel. You have to learn new vocabulary, different kinds of social interactions than those we're used to, etc. Fortunately, like the best fantasy novels, it's well-integrated and I, for one, never feel too overwhelmed by information. You pick it up as you go.

Importantly, Louisiana was a French colony, then a Spanish one, then a French one again, then it was bought by the US in the Louisiana purchase. All of these cultures have left a profound mark on the city. Slavery is endemic and brutal, but there's a whole class of free people of color who have more rights than slaves though not as many as white people. But even the black/white dichotomy is more complicated because present in the city are the old plantation families who have mostly French with some Spanish backgrounds--they've been living with and having children with black and colored (mixed-race) people for generations, and their interactions are, again, complex and and nuanced. But since the Louisiana purchase, there's also been an influx of "Americans" who have a completely different culture and do not understand the position of the free colored people. They're competing with the white creoles for money and social status and it's all very cut-throat.


The appeal: You might be thinking, "Wow, that sounds pretty dark, actually. Would I actually want to read a series about such a rotten time in human history?" This is a reasonable question. These books are not lighthearted romps or cozies. But on the other hand, they are not grimdark, either, despite dealing with many of the worst things that humans can do to each other.

To me, the appeal of these books--besides characters I love and an interesting setting I've not experienced elsewhere--is Hambly's worldview. All of these stories are about people who are oppressed--because of race or gender or both, occasionally because of sexuality or religion--and are trying desperately to maintain some kind of agency in a world that doesn't want to grant them any.

The series may be hung on the frame of the mysteries, but it's really about trying to live with human dignity in terrible situations. It's about pushing against the boundaries of the life you're allowed to live and trying to set up a life you can live with within the constraints of society. It's about forming relationships with people from different backgrounds with differing amounts (and kinds) of power--caring for those people, seeing their humanity...but also the limits of what caring can do in a world of intense hierarchies.

Ben is always searching for justice. He almost never finds it within conventional means--very rarely does a bad guy get arrested and sent to prison or anything like that. But often, sometimes almost miraculously (yet believably), the story stumbles into a different kind of justice. (the ending of Sold Down the River is the one that comes to mind most clearly--I thought of Tolkien's eucatastrophe--I wept.) And sometimes there's no justice at all, and Ben is angry and we are angry, but that's just the way it is. It's realistic but, ultimately, hopeful. They match up exactly with how I see the world: it's a dark place, but what makes it worthwhile is the ways in which we can take care of each other and the ways in which we fight for what's right, even when we know we won't win. (And then--sometimes--we do win! But only sometimes.)

I've been reading these books very slowly over the course of several years. Every once in a while I pick one up and am plunged back into this world of characters I love so much. I've been going to slowly because they're worth savoring and also because I know I'm going to run out of books eventually, and I'm delaying that. Some are stronger than others but all, imo, are worth reading. I love these books. I love them.


And just for fun, The characters:

Ben, our hero, who is lovely and smart and strong and compassionate and full of integrity but also anger at the life he's forced to live because of the racism of the culture he lives in. He moves between the various layers of New Orleans society--he's at a lot of balls and social occasions because he's playing piano there and he has entree into a number of rich white people's houses because he teaches their children piano lessons. But of course, ultimately, he is a black man in a world that hates black people.

Rose Vitrac is Ben's love interest. She is a bookish, brainy, scientific free woman of color who just wants to run girls' school for girls who are like her. She doesn't care a thing about the flashy world of parties and masquerades and love affairs that she's supposed to care about. Ben worships her and so do I.

Hannibal Sefton becomes Ben's bff. He's an Irishman who's washed up in New Orleans and never tells anyone about his background (until there's a book all about it). He's a consumptive, drug-and-alcohol-addicted violinist, who plays beautifully and flirts with every woman he sees. He often steps in and goes into situations that Ben can't go into by virtue of his race. A mess, but a useful guy to have around (when he's not in a drunk stupor).

Lavinia, Ben's mom. Suuuuch a fascinating character. She was a field hand until a rich white man saw her beauty, bought her, and freed her. Despite this humble background, she is totally caught up in the social jockeying of the world of the placées. She's ruthless and the ultimate survivor.

Dominique, Ben's younger half-sister, who is beautiful and appears flighty but is really much stronger than she lets on. As an extension of Dominique: her sugar daddy, who is largely uninteresting, and his wife Chloe, who is wonderful--a sharp, tiny, brilliant young woman. Dominique and Chloe actually really care a lot about each other and I have written fic of them.

Olympe, Ben's full sister, who is a practitioner of voodoo and Ben's tie to this particular community.

Abishag Shaw, the--wait, is he the sheriff? the chief of police? I forget what his title is, but he's the lawman in town. He's an uncouth, unwashed Kentuckian (lol), but he's smart and sharp and he treats Ben like a person. He also knows how useful Ben can be, and they end up working together a lot.

And various other supporting characters who show up now and then.