Review: Wise Children by Angela Carter

Wise Children was written by Angela Carter in 1991, the last of her nine novels, published before her death in 1992.

The story is a complex tale – set on the day of identical twins Dora (the narrator) and Nora Chance’s 75th birthday, it is a memoir of their personal lives as illegitimate twin daughters of Sir Melchior Hazard, a British theatrical legend, and their professional lives as vaudeville ‘hoofers’ – the Lucky Chances. All of the vignettes recollected by Dora lead towards the dénouement set at their father’s centennial party.

Central to the theme of the book – emphasised by the choice of quotations used at the outset of the novel – is the relationship between mothers and daughters ("Father is a hypothesis but mother is a fact"), and there is a very matriarchal slant to the story. This is very in keeping with Carter’s other works, which emphasise the power held by women in determining their own destinies.

At times the thread of the narrative is difficult to follow – the timeline jumps around incessantly and there is (fittingly for a novel about theatric types) a large cast of supporting characters – but Carter’s clever use of language to describe situations and events and her talent in bringing the principals to life make this a joy to read.

Wise Children requires one to suspend belief at times due to its use of magical realism, but if you can get to grips with the multiple pairs of twins, the numerous illegitimacies and the constant Shakespearian motif, then the highs and lows in the book will really tug at your heart strings. There’s also plenty of bawdy humour to keep the pace up.