SancXtuary: A Novel

By Bruce Donehower. Xlibris, 2012, 727 pgs. Review by Jane Hipolito.

"We are all journeying, we are all singing, we are all weeping. We know each other as deeply as we can see. If I do not know you, I am blind or you are bound. Let my warmth thaw your bonds. Create my eyes with your light. Silently and together We are all journeying: like the rivers underground, like trains through the tunnels, like stars through the evening. Let us look at each other and know it." - From “Chorus: All of Us,” by Christy MacKaye Barnes

These words by Christy Barnes could serve as an epigraph for SancXtuary, Bruce Donehower’s deeply humane new novel. Set in 21st-century North America, it is the story of the modern-day quest for “SancXtuary,” a mysterious entity toward which each of the novel’s several principal characters is urgently journeying. At first, the novel traces their separate travels; they set out from very different places, contend with disparate challenges, and are unaware of each other. Gradually, however, their paths converge, and their journeys become a shared adventure.

SancXtuary’s wealth of characters is one of its greatest strengths. Each of the characters in the novel is a distinct individual with a unique and fascinating biography which Donehower sets forth in rich detail. He also provides abundant, wonderfully clear descriptions of how the characters look, sound, move, and think, and thus from the outset the reader can “look at” each character clearly. “All real living is meeting,” Martin Buber famously observes in his classic work of modern spiritual philosophy, I and Thou. Both for the reader and for the characters themselves, SancXtuary is alive with such meetings—moments of awakening to each character as an individual self, a “Thou.” This is important, indeed vital, because as Donehower deftly discloses step by step, truly recognizing one another is the key to finding “SancXtuary.”

The first travelers we meet are Mattie Rivera, a beautiful and resourceful woman in her 20s, and Zack, an enigmatically imperturbable seven-year-old. They are joined by the tow-truck driver Elijah Bean, who quickly becomes their chauffeur and protector, and the three make their circuitous way together through upstate New York and on to Ohio and “SancXtuary” on the campus of Dedham College, Mattie’s alma mater. Their journey is shadowed by a G-man, Peter Ashe. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in a desert in the American Southwest, Joey, a teenage boy, musters the strength to free himself and his fellow captive, Angie, from their abductors. Joey’s actions are inspired by his memory of a “magic word”—SANX- TUARY—which he once saw spray-painted on a wall and which reappears to him, variously spelled, at crucial junctures. Following its leadings, he and Angie also come to Dedham, Ohio, as does one of their captors, Dwane, whom they are unable to elude.

Tremendous courage, dedication, and inner resilience are needed throughout these journeys, which are acutely perilous. There are the elements to deal with: ferociously bleak winter weather in the Northeast, and in the desert Southwest, harsh and unforgiving aridity. And the travelers must contend with the active malice of those who are determined to thwart their quest and spare no efforts to do so. In this respect, SancXtuary is a thriller, an engrossing page-turner in which crisis succeeds crisis with breathtaking speed.

At the same time, SancXtuary is a work of magical realism where the realistic and the fantastic wonderfully interweave and tall tales abound. This fascinating dimension of the book is most intensely realized in two groups of characters and the events involving them. Mingo Aihouauk and his sister Hettie Starkey are shamans; endeavoring to solve a murder that has baffled Hettie’s husband Raymond, who is a New York State Park Ranger, Mingo, Hettie, and Raymond journey to Dedham College. On the way to Dedham, they encounter supernatural phenomena and engage in battles with supernatural beings. The culmination of this trio’s quest, the journey’s end for them and for all the other travelers, is the epitome of magical realism—Dedham College, its residents (who are, we discover, on both sides of the threshold) and everything that happens there. It is a true mystery site.

The mystery of becoming is at the heart of SancXtuary, which is set in the season of Advent. During eight eventful days, from December 17 through December 24, Mattie completes what has been unfinished for her at Dedham College and she and Elijah become a couple; Joey matures from boy to man; through the efforts of Mattie, Elijah, Joey, Mingo, Hettie, and their allies, evil is recognized and vigorously combatted, and promising initiatives are born; and a little child, Zack, points the world toward a future where all is possible for those of good will.

Note: Readers who want to sample the novel can download the first third for FREE (135 pages) as a PDF at www. SancXtuary.com. The ebook is available from Amazon and other sites for $3.99. Bruce Donehower’s other books include The Singing Tree, ICE, and The Birth of Novalis, all available from the Rudolf Steiner Library.