Book Review: Chime by Franny Billingsley

Release Date: March 17, 2011
Publisher: Dial Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 368

Source: My local library.

 Summary:
Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know. (From frannybillingsley.com)
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Franny Billingsley's Chime is dark, yet uplifting. One of my favorite books in elementary school (and to this day) was Billingsley's The Folk Keeper.* Much like The Folk Keeper, Chime is about a girl who discovers startling truths about herself while learning how to give and receive love.** Briony isolates herself, and part of the fun of Chime is separating truth from the lies that surround Briony: lies that were told to Briony, and lies that Briony tells.

The novel begins:

I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged.
Now, if you please.
 
As she recounts her story, Briony continues in this sharp, funny-yet-serious manner. Chime is set in turn of the century England, and new swamp-draining technology is coming to the Swampsea, where Briony lives with her mostly absent father and her identical twin, Rose. With the new technology come new residents, like Eldric, a funny, handsome "boy-man" who shows Briony a new side of herself as well as of people. Briony and Eldric bond over fighting lessons and Latin jokes. Briony says of Eldric:

If Eldric were to tell the story, he’d likely begin with himself, on the day he arrived in the Swampsea. That’s where proper stories begin, don’t they, when the handsome stranger arrives and everything goes wrong? But this isn’t a proper story, and I’m telling you, I ought to be hanged.

As indicated by her repeated insistence that she ought to be hanged, Briony struggles with guilt throughout the novel: guilt over her sister's peculiarities, guilt over the flood that damaged her family's home, guilt over her stepmother's recent death. Briony is convinced that she hurt Rose's head when they were children, which is why Rose speaks too loudly and needs looking after. Briony also tells the reader that she spoke to the Old Ones and called the flood that injured her Stepmother. She reminds herself of her misdeeds over and over, like scratching at a cut and never letting it heal.

Although the experience of reading Briony's guilt-ridden narration isn't as painful as it sounds, Chime is an intense read full of believable grief, regret, and all the painful and confusing bits that can accompany love. Chime is also funny, and fun. The atmosphere is fairytale-like, and the tales of the Old Ones in the swamp are both spine-tingling and entertaining. With words like "scareful," the dialect of the Swampsea is convincing. There is also unrequited love and silly crushes, as well as requited love and one of the most touching romances I've ever seen in literature. It's the best kind, in which the boy and girl act as equals. And all that guilt and darkness? Billingsley's characters find a way around it.

I recommend Chime to anyone who enjoys romance, folklore, family drama (Rose is a fantastic character), mysteries, and--of course--beautiful prose.
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*Add it to your reading list if you enjoy historical fantasy mixed with folklore and beautiful prose, and if you like reading, period. Seriously. I own a copy of The Folk Keeper, and it sits on the second shelf of my bookcase***, which I reserve for my Favorite Books of All Time.

**This aspect of Billingsley's novels is not as cheesy as it sounds. Pinky swear.

***Because that shelf is easiest to reach, of course.