Translated from the French by Sam Taylor
With its tagline ‘Salvation comes with a body count’, I was never going to say no to this thriller involving the Vatican, a priest and an honest whore along with a pair of hitmen brothers set in America’s Deep South. I was therefore really surprised when I read that the author was Swiss, and that the novel, it’s just a tad too long to be a novella, was translated from the French by one of my favourite translators, Sam Taylor.
Meet Stella Thibodeaux – she’s 19 and lives in an RV, but you can trust her.
It didn’t matter what kind of man you were: Stella looked at you with her innocent amber eyes, and you were alive.
She looked into you.
Deep inside you.
Those eyes penetrated your heart, your blood.
And made you feel alive.
So it was only natural that Stella became what she carried within her: the quantification of desire.
And when you think about it, that might be all you need in this life to become a whore.
As the novel starts, she goes to fortune teller Santa Muerte’s trailer at the travelling carnival to ask her advice, (Santa Muerte is a sort of surrogate grandmother). You see, Stella has a problem – she is curing her customers of their medical conditions; one who was suffering terribly from psoriasis woke up to find he had baby skin again; Stella is calling it a ‘resorption’. It’s happened three times now. Santa tells her to become a carnival follower, so they can deal with anything if word gets out she heals through sex. However, it doesn’t take long, so the psoriasis guy went to confession and told the priest – he has a problem, as he can’t tell his girlfriend how he was cured! Father Brown passes the information on about Stella – a possible saint! Later he’ll regret this. The information arrives in the Vatican where Pope Simon II has to make a decision.
“She is… how can I put this? She’s a meretrix mulier.“
“Why is that a problem, Otto? Gordini asked. “Mary Magdalene is our most famous whore. And we are living in the age of inclusion, aren’t we? In fact, it’s been our credo for more than two thousand years: inclusiveness! Restaurasio unitasis...”
“Yes, but… I… I’m trying to find the most delicate way of explaining this to you… This girl performs her miracles by way of her, um… her most intimate bodily parts. That is to say, she –”
“You mean her pussy?” Carter said.
“Oh!” excalimed Simon II.
“Precisely,” Otto said. “She eases mens suffering with her… her vagina.”
“Are you saying one must sleep with her to order to be cured?” Gordini asked.
They decide that Stella must be dealt with, Giordini, one of the cardinals travels to meet Bredna Moore, a high class fixer. She hires the Bronski brothers, Michael and Billy, her top hitmen, to deal with Stella – and the men she cured.
Stella must go on the run. But Father Brown comes to her rescue – he was a Navy Seal before taking up the priesthood. The Bronski brothers are not used to such a chase, and Brenda is put on the spot, as news of Stella’s miracles spreads.
I won’t spoil the rest of the plot for you. This novel was absolutely brilliant! Yes, there is violence, but it is also very funny indeed, and the characters are excellent. You can’t help but love Stella, and Incardona makes all the baddie stereotypes his own. I also loved the way the author as narrator sometimes injected himself into the narrative:
And since we are now on Chapter 40, one of the brothers’ beloved even numbers, I propose that we take a break here and move on to Part VI of this American crime novel written by a Swiss man.
As always Sam Taylor’s translation is full of fun, and whoever decided to change the title from the original French Stella et l’Amérique deserves a prize. Highly recommended.
Source: Review copy – thank you. No Exit Press paperback original – 203 pages. BUY at Amazon UK or Waterstones via my affiliate links.
