Vestige

Abstract

Vestige is a fantasy novel that follows Delphine Ventadour's struggle to return home. Delphine is rescued from execution by a Priest who is the lover/bodyguard of a Prince. Both men try to convince her to accept her fate to become High Priestess of an ancient religion and marry his daughter. A major theme of Vestige is truth, explored not only in Delphine's struggle to know which characters and version of events to trust, but also in the novel's text. Vestige moves between a third-person omniscient point of view (POV) and Delphine's first-person POV. The switch between POVs provides an indication of telepathy and encourages the reader to participate in exploring truth. Poems appear in the text as a form of world-building and to further the theme of truth through various translations and the rewriting of a culture's history. Two other major themes in the novel closely circling one another are home and loneliness. In Delphine's perspective, the descriptions of Aerasha uses diction such as "rotting" "cursed" alongside imagery of hostility through and I contrast this with the place Delphine considers home to explore home and loneliness. The lack of trust Delphine cements her loneliness even when she finds herself liking other characters. I also explore home not only through the contrast with Aerasha and where Delphine grew up, but also through the contrast of Delphine's found family (Jean, Kokumo, Thema) back where she was raised and her bloodline family in Aerasha.