Review of The Capital of Dreams by Heather O’Neill

Mmm, mmm, mmm. Heather O’Neill can serve it. As I reflected in my review of When We Lost Our Heads, her skill as a writer has only deepened and matured since its precocious and sublime debut almost two decades ago. The Capital of Dreams wasn’t as revelatory or enchanting for me, yet it was still a fascinating work of storytelling.

Sofia is a fourteen-year-old girl living in the Capital of Elysia, a fictional European country in a state of war against an Enemy in a thinly veiled WWII analogue. She finds herself lost in the Elysian countryside, a talking goose her only companion. The two of them wander as Sofia seeks out the mysterious Black Market. She hopes to recover her mother’s manuscript, which her mother dispatched to safety along with Sofia, only for Sofia to lose it in the ensuing chaos. Despite not having the warmest relationship with her mother, Sofia clings to the hope that she can somehow find the manuscript at the Black Market and then return triumphant to the Capital. Of course, that isn’t how it works.

Once again I find myself reading a book that feels strangely appropriate for our current political climate. The Enemy are portrayed as fascist aggressors (although, to be fair, more of that feels inferred from the book’s parallels to real-world history than actually stated in the text). The book’s secondary conflict is Sofia and her mother versus the Enemy’s patriarchal oppression of Elysian culture, particularly their openness to sex. Part of Sofia’s journey is, in some ways, her sexual awakening and coming of age. Through various encounters with boys around her age, a slightly older girl she once knew, and other characters, Sofia is exposed to different ideas about relationships and values.

In many ways, this book reminded me of The Curse of Pietro Houdini, which also features a child as a protagonist. Substitute Pietro for the smart-talking goose, and it’s basically the same story! OK, not really. Still, the mood is similar. Both O’Neill and Miller manage to capture the bizarre normalcy of civilian life under an occupying force. Even as Sofia wanders from place to place, she is never safe, yet there are few moments where she is in actual danger. Rather, it’s the omnipresent threat of danger, and her own relative powerlessness, that adds tension to the story.

Meanwhile, O’Neill uses this setting to ponder girlhood, womanhood, motherhood, and the narratives we create about these states of being. Clara and Sofia’s relationship is so rocky because Clara didn’t want a child. I love the complexity with which O’Neill draws these characters: there are moments where Clara expresses genuine love for her daughter as well as moments that are chilling, borderline cruel. All of this is filtered through the limited third-person perspective of Sofia’s memories, usually relayed through Sofia’s mouth to the goose, so of course, we don’t get an unbiased view of Clara. Nevertheless, O’Neill’s illustration is very much her classic characterization of a parent–child relationship where neither quite seems to have a hang on what is going on.

Similarly, the rest of the characters we meet along the way bear O’Neill’s trademark stamp of archetype and allegory. From the philosophical goose sidekick to the two boys Sofia meets early on to Celeste and, of course, Sofia’s final meet-cute with her very own manic pixie dreamgirl … all of these characters exist really just to help Sofia develop. In the end, O’Neill tells us that Sofia has to be brave enough to step into the new future ahead instead of clinging to what she left behind—mother, manuscript—a bittersweet message of optimism through gritted teeth.

I won’t say that I loved The Capital of Dreams as much as some of O’Neill’s previous works, especially When We Lost Our Heads. This was an enjoyable read, one I might revisit one day but not any time soon, and one I highly recommend for fans of O’Neill or dreamy literary fiction in general. While I’m not sure it really says anything new or bombastic, it has a journeyman feel to its craft that is sure to satisfy your literary craving.