Review: 'The Mistress of Nothing'

THE MISTRESS OF NOTHING
By Kate Pullinger
Historical Fiction
January 2011
Touchstone Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-4391-9386-0


Based on the memoirs of Lady Duff Gordon, who exiled herself to Egypt in the 1860s when suffering from consumption, leaving behind her children and husband, THE MISTRESS OF NOTHING is one of those "it could have been great" books. The novel focuses on her maid, Sally Naldrett, who was as enamored of Egypt as her mistress.


But Sally apparently forgot her station, falling in love with an Egyptian man, bearing his child and refusing to follow her former employer's demands once she was discovered. The story then devolves into melodrama.


What one person can mean to another should have been at the heart of this novel, which strangely won Canada's Governor General's Award. But the storytelling is all what might have been, and not realized. The opening sets up expectations that action and introspection will provide a full-bodied reading experience. Sally looks back at the events about to be revealed. There is regret that she is no longer loved by her mistress, although the way events are described it's hard to see that she ever was so regarded. There is acknowledgement that she was never thought of as a human being but, at best, a beloved pet dog. Even using 19th century sensibilities, employer-personal servant politics and feelings could have led to a fascinating novel. Tied to real, documented lives perhaps made this next to impossible.