Cristina Henríquez’s “The Great Divide” explores the danger and adventure that everyday people experienced as they endured the heat and clung to their dreams.
The first attempt to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama was a wreck. A French company spent eight years and $287 million trying to construct the waterway only to abandon the project in 1889. The terrain proved to be an insurmountable obstacle, though it wasn’t the only one. Debilitating humidity, occupational hazards, and diseases such as malaria and yellow fever killed 20,000 workers.
It’s not uncommon for historical novels to delve into the societal impact of epidemics, and “The Great Divide” explores how, pneumonia and even depression affected the population. What sets this period apart is the bureaucratic determination to combat diseases. In the novel, that drive is embodied by John Oswald, a doctor who is stationed in Panama with his wife, Marian, and understands that curing diseases is more than a charitable act; it brings the potential for fame and recognition.
While Dr. Oswald lives in a large, two-story white house atop a hill, many workers dwell in overcrowded dormitories or makeshift shacks with thatched roofs. Labor conditions for the canal workers echo the appalling living conditions of the lower echelon of society. Omar, who resides at home with his father, can avoid sleeping in the camps. There, men from Barbados, Guadeloupe and Haiti, among other far-flung places, “were packed in tighter,” as one co-worker describes it, “than fleas on a dog.
Edna Bonhomme is a culture writer and historian of science based in Berlin. Her work has appeared in the Atlantic, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the Nation and elsewhere. Her book “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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