Escape to Ponti
Escape to Ponti
He gazed at the mountains on the other side of the valley, where sunlight glittered on the snow that lingered on the peaks. All at once, he felt a longing so strong, he thought his chest would burst. A yearning for something—he couldn’t say exactly what. Freedom, yes, but not just that. Something more. A sense of who he was, of where he belonged in the world. He knew so little about his family. His mother and grandmother were both gone, taking with them everything they could have told him about his past. And his father…well, sometimes he believed it was better not to know.
In this adventure set in medieval Italy, 14-year-old Bec escapes being branded as a slave by a castle lord named Malaspina. He soon meets Tien Nu, a teenage Asian acrobat mourning the recent death of his father, and the two decide to journey to Ponti, a free republic city on the coast where Bec will be protected from slavery. On the way, they encounter a mysterious Knight named Cristoforo who is also journeying to Ponti with a group of pilgrims headed to the Holy Land. Dodging bandits, hunger, and danger, they are pursued by Malaspina and his henchmen. As the reach the gates of Ponti, they are saved by the Knight at the last minute, and Malaspina is forced to give up his pursuit. As the Knight recovers from being stabbed by Malaspina, he reveals to the boys that he is Malaspina’s brother, realizing at the same time that he is also Bec’s father.
Escape to Ponti is a rich, classically-influenced, well-researched, and multi-layered novel that never ceases to draw the reader in with its adventurous plots and intriguing studies in character. Every person in the story—the boys, the Knight, castle lords, peasants, bandits, and servants—are richly portrayed as both complex and archetypical, none completely good nor evil. Bec is resilient, strong, and inquisitive. Tien Nu (referred to as a “Tartar” but, in fact, of Chinese origin) is disciplined, loyal, and playful. The Knight, the most fascinating character, harbours a certain darkness that he tries to shake but which occasionally shows up as violence; a darkness explained by his doomed love for Bec’s mother, his flight from his threatening brother, and a past episode where two Arab orphans in his care were murdered by thieves on a previous pilgrimage. Even the various bandits they encounter are portrayed as something well beyond villains.
While the narration is third person, it is alternately told from the vantage of various characters; although occasionally confusing, this adds texture and pathos. A deep web of (largely male) relationships showcase layers of loyalty, rivalry, negotiation, honour, and mutual dependence, with only occasional female characters such as the wise and independent Abbess at a convent in which the boys take refuge. While the local geography is largely fictional (there is no city of Ponti), the portrayal of a cosmopolitan medieval world is eye-opening, especially Tien Nu’s origin—born in Samarkand (in modern Uzbekistan), raised in Alessandria (Egypt), travelling the Mediterranean with his father as circus performers. The loss of Tien Nu’s father in a tightrope fall, which Tien Nu initially blames on himself but realizes in a dream was an accident, is particularly poignant, and his practice of a martial art called quan fa is fascinating. Dry humour is even sprinkled throughout, seen in particular with the quan fa move known as Ring the Temple Bells (a kick in the testicles, which Bec learns to use against his enemies). Occasional Italian curse words and expressions also add to the authenticity, and even names such as Malaspina (“bad thorn”) convey meaning.
An enjoyable, well-written, complex and timeless novel.
Todd Kyle is the CEO of the Brampton Library.