Book Review : A Rare Musical Talent Is Nurtured in the Darkness

Maddy’s Song by Margaret Dickson (Houghton Mifflin: $15.95)

There is something almost unbearably touching about watching a bird dart everywhere, seeking food, filling its huge need for sustenance with desperate little motions. That same poignant grace, fueled by a similar desperation, fills the pages of Margaret Dickson’s second novel.

Maddy Dow is a small, frightened girl who escapes from a nightmarish reality of physical abuse and family terror into a private world of music and beauty. The nightmare that is everyday life for Maddy and her brothers and sisters is almost too graphically depicted--the cruel father’s fist crashing into a child’s cheekbone, baby hurtled across a room, mother knocked down and made to lie on the floor covered with food. Scene after scene of unbearable pain spills from the pen, as convincing as a war correspondent’s news reports.

But between these violent purgations, and rendered all the sweeter by them, is woven a story about life in a small town, other relationships less furious but just as important, and the makers of music, both average and gifted.

So Little to Say

Maddy’s father is a respected member of the community. People occasionally wonder why his wife and children have so little to say to anyone, sitting in a silent row in their church pew, but most people are too busy with their own lives to give it much thought.

Then one day, during tryouts for a special choir, 16-year-old Maddy transcends the fog of her frightened silence, heads for the piano and plays music that stuns the very soul of the townspeople. How could they not have known? Was ever such a talent nurtured in the secret darkness?

That question is probably the weakest link in the chain of events that draws the Dow family into the town’s mainstream.

Somehow, the musical talent of this young prodigy had managed to flower, in spite of a father who flew into a rage whenever he heard the noise of a piano.

Once Maddy’s gift becomes known, she is taken into the hearts and lives of loving people, and she is held fast in the tension of contrasts between the secrets at home and the joys outside. It is hard to imagine a conclusion that does not include a horrible fate for someone.

Humor of a Sort

Meanwhile, the town’s spoiled rich girl has trouble coping with her baby, a gifted music teacher struggles with marital problems and self-deceit, the eating habits of a jolly fat woman provide humor of a sort, and other small-town goings-on dot the plot with sprinkles of homely reality.

“Maddy’s Song” is a thriller, certainly. Character development could have been richer, more complex. Facts from the past do not fully explain the destructive relationship between Maddy’s parents. The subplots are superficially drawn. But the story is compelling, dramatic and skillfully told.

A happy ending is spread over the layers of tragedy like an afterthought. It’s not altogether convincing, but it comes as a relief.