Title: The Sea of Wise Insects
Author: Terry Westby-Nunn
Publisher: Jacana Media
ISBN: 9781431401666
Price: R135.95
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Alice Wolfe, misunderstood protagonist and victim of unfortunate events, is involved in a car accident that will forever change her life.
Alice is believed to be an attention-seeker, whose body is tattooed with scars of past incidents. However, her bad luck escalates on a night out with her brother Andrew and his fiancée Veronica. Alice is embroiled in the death of Veronica, whom she at once despised and judged. Forced to cover up her brother’s crime, Alice struggles to come to terms with Veronica’s death, finding unnecessary guilt for not having been killed instead.
“She died that night, her body sliced open, blood everywhere. That was always me, I was always the torn-up one. Our rings, stolen promises. It feels as if she somehow died for me, some strange sacrificial gesture.”
Parallel to the narrative of Veronica’s death are details of Alice’s prior life. Alice worked as a chambermaid in a run-down London hotel called the Tisca. During this time, Alice falls for Ralph, a pathetic and disjointed entomologist who makes use of Alice’s shortcomings as meat for his novel, The Sea of Wise Insects. Writing under the pseudonym of Walt Turnbridge, Ralph plays on Alice’s “injured bird” stance, weaving an obscure crime novel of two characters and lovers, Jack and Lucy, on which their lives are based.
Alice acknowledges the similarities between her life and Lucy’s. “Worst of all, I don’t even like Lucy. She is a wimpy, whingeing victim. She feels so sorry for herself, it’s smothering. This bicycle tragedy, that scarring tragedy. I hate her, but the nasty truth of it is that I am her.”
Alice is tormented by Ralph’s words and his disappearance, and must now also take responsibility for Veronica’s death. “I try, but part of me is afraid that if I do sleep, I’ll dream more warped stuff. Best to lie awake, tossing, the dank sheets twisting around me, the blunt shadows of night, gloomy bedfellows.”
The Sea of Wise Insects is a macabre tale which delves into the mind of a soul tormented. In places the novel is unnecessarily bogged down by the protagonist’s melancholia. However, its ominousness is no doubt intriguing to the reader. The crime novel explores mother-daughter relationships, the role of memory, as well as the theme of unbelonging. It carefully unravels the layers of struggle facing a young, white girl in search of her identity in modern-day South Africa.
Terry Westby-Nunn is a filmmaker and novelist from Cape Town. The Sea of Wise Insects is her first novel.