Wild Thyme and Violets-Jack Vance outline for a novel

Wild Thyme and Violets-Jack Vance outline for a novel

Wild Thyme and Violets is a 16 page outline for a novel that was drafted by Vance in 1976 and first published in the Vance Integral Edition in 2005.  The setting is in the town of Gargano which has about 400 houses and a nearby castle owned by Marquis Paul-Aubry Alcmeone del Torre-Gargano who resides there with his mute 17 year old daughter, Alicia.  It begins on a Saturday market day.  Mersile, a traveling mountebank, and his helper, Etheny, set up a booth decorated with thaumaturgical symbols where they sell balms, elixirs and papers with magical signs.  Mersile, a rather classic type of Vancian character, also casts horoscopes, lances boils, pulls teeth and lays a concertina while his helper dances.  Parnasse, the mayor, is there along with Lucian, an artist.  The mayor longs for a son but his wife has not been able to conceive despite their use of extracts, exercises and astrology.

Parnasse decides to hire the artist Lucian to paint his wife Madame Clotilde "in a state of full gestation."  Right after the painting is completed, Parnasse's wife suddenly becomes pregnant.  When other people inquire about the cause of the pregnancy, Parnasse insists that there is a secret behind the pregnancy but it is not related to prayer, hypnosis, cabalistic symbols or the pregnant portrait of Lucian's.  He offers to employ his secret on any of the wives and daughters of his citizens.

Next we find ourselves at an important festival at Gargano called the "All-Hallows Eve" with the Marquis and his daughter, Alicia, attending.  Lucian tries to intervene when Alicia is accosted by some rowdy revelers.  When the she and her father return to their castle afterward, Lucian follows and watches Alicia while she stands in front of her bedroom window in her night dress.  When she falls (apparently jumps) from the window into the moat, he rescues her and takes her to his home and then tells her, "You threw your life away; I found it and took it for myself and now you are my very own."  Alicia looks at him, remains mute but is cooperative.

A priest complains to the Marquis about the scandal of Alicia living unmarried with a man.  The priest and the Mother Superior take Alicia away from Lucian and put her in a convent.  Lucian, in the meantime, contrives a plan to rescue her but is caught and sent to jail.  Alicia slips away from the convent and returns to the castle.  The story continues focusing on Alicia and Lucian with more adventure than plot. 

Wild Thyme and Violets had much potential but as it is written, is rather lacking in character and plot development.  It will likely appeal mostly to dedicated Vance fans. I’ve read this twice and rated it a 3+ or "liked it plus."

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Wild Thyme, Green Magic (2009)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Wild Thyme and violets, Other Unpublished Works (2012)