Peter Carey is one of only two novelists (along with J.M.
Coetzee) to have won the Booker Prize two times. Since bookmakers
start taking bets on these coveted literary prizes early, odds are
that more than a few people will be putting money down on Carey to
be the first three-time Booker winner, based on the promise of his
latest remarkable historical novel, PARROT AND OLIVIER IN
AMERICA.

Carey uses as his touchstone the real historical figure of
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French aristocrat, historian and
philosopher who made often-quoted observations of American life
following his travels here in the early part of the 19th century.
With de Tocqueville as his inspiration, Carey creates the character
of Olivier de Garmont, the son of French aristocrats who somehow
managed to keep their heads

(literally) during the recent French Revolution.

But when another uprising seems to be fomenting, Olivier is
beset not only by uncertainty about his place in society
(“What would we do in this present age? What sort of nobles
would society still permit? Would we stamp on wasps’ nests?
Would we drown swimming against the tide of history? Would we break
open the door we could not yet locate, and enter the salons of a
glorious time as yet unborn? Or would we spend our lives between
the thighs of actresses?”) but also with very real threats to
his life. For his own safety, Olivier is sent to the United States,
a country still in its infancy.

Accompanying him is John Larrit, known as Parrot, an older man
whose background, temperament and place in French society could not
be farther from Olivier’s own. Parrot is an engraver, a
skilled tradesman who was brought up (sort of) by his father,
apprenticed at an early age, and now assigned to spy on (in the
guise of serving) Olivier. Parrot’s subservience rankles him,
his young charge annoys him. But, like thousands of American
immigrants before them, the new democracy throws these Europeans of
vastly different circumstances together cheek-by-jowl.

In the characters of Olivier and Parrot, Carey has created a
thoroughly entertaining odd couple. Through flashbacks of their
earlier lives, he illustrates how Europe’s stratified social
and class systems kept them apart; through their picaresque
adventures together, Carey portrays American history and democracy
in action. PARROT AND OLIVIER IN AMERICA is a really fine example
of what can be accomplished through historical fiction. Using the
perspective of a contemporary novelist (incidentally, an Australian
who has lived in, and made his own observations of, America for the
last 20 years), Carey illustrates the significance of historical
events through the persons of two individuals who are both
historically authentic but also culturally relevant today.

Using convincing 19th-century prose style, Carey goes far beyond
historical allegory, crafting flesh-and-blood characters who
nevertheless illustrate --- on a human scale --- the comic, messy
and promising ideals of American-style democracy.