Red Smoking Mirror

Red Smoking Mirror, scheduled for publication on the 6th July is a wonderful suspension of reality, whose rich descriptions transport you to a world which has a sense of familiarity, supporting what knowledge you may have of post-colonial Mexico, whilst also feeling totally fantastical. To be clear, whilst given the genre ‘Historical-Fiction’, this short novel is very loose in terms of its accuracy to the truth. This is a look through the lens of an alternative history, a ‘what if?’ type of book. Would the outcome of history be any different? The protagonist of the novel, Eli Ben Abram, a Jewish merchant, and husband to Malinala, a Nahuatl woman and freed slave, acts as the conduit for the reader to experience this alternative historical path, and it is through his eyes which we see the world in which this novel takes place. However, must like the naivety of Abram himself, it is short-sighted to believe that much would change under differing circumstances. With the threat of war, illness, and unsettlement within the town of Tenochtitlan, tensions rise, trust is broken and dark secrets long buried are upturned to disrupt the status quo.

For me, the strength of this book came from the setting. Nick Hunt has done a fantastic job in creating the vivid descriptions of the world in which the characters of this novel exist, with the landscape almost operating as a main character in itself. As a reader, you can perfectly visualize the busy marketplaces, hear the ominous groans of the smoking mountain bearing down upon the settlement, smell the xocolatl that Malinala prepares for Eli. Hunt has created something very special with his words in this story. Whilst I must admit that I prefer my historical fiction steeped in a little more fact than Red Smoking Mountain is, I found this book an enjoyable light read, which allowed me to suspend my belief for 272 pages and lose myself in a world I had not yet experienced.