#5 – A Good Man – Guy Vanderhaeghe

Multi-award-winning author Guy Vanderhaeghe’s eagerly awaited new novel is a dazzling follow up to his bestselling The Englishman’s Boy and The Last Crossing (a Canada Reads winner!).

A Good Man culminates what could be thought of as a trilogy of books set in the late nineteenth-century Canadian and American West, and it is a masterpiece. Vanderhaeghe skilfully weaves a rich tapestry of history with the turns of fortune of his most vividly and compellingly drawn cast of characters yet. Vanderhaeghe entwines breathtaking, intriguing, and richly described narratives that contain a compelling love story, a tale of revenge and violence, a spectacular battle scene, the story of an incident in Welsely’s past that threatens his relationship with Ada, and much, much more. While raising moral questions, this novel weaves the historical with the personal and stands as Vanderhaeghe’s most accomplished and brilliant novel to date. – Publishers Website

Although, I haven’t read the two earlier novels that pre-date this one.  It is certainly a book that you can read by itself.  I really enjoyed Guy’s writing style, it was a comfortable, relaxing read.  It was a book that mellowed you out, made you comfortable where ever it was I read.  It is one of those books that you can wind down from a long hectic day at work, certainly not one that will put you to sleep; but one that just mellows you out so you are able to enjoy it fully. At least it was for me, you may experience it differently.

Between the main characters brief stint in the Northwest Mounted Police, as well as others you will learn about; he is keeping a dreadful secret.  One, that he thinks will end his career or at least his reputation.  Determined to go on his own, he leaves Canada for the American West.  When there he learns the tales of others who are rather unsavoury and out to get him, or others as the plot progresses.

Then of course there is a  woman – Ada Tarr, married the town’s lawyer, who has a past of her own.  Sitting Bull has a cameo in this novel as well, the portrayal is stunning to his own real-life description. The fighting/war scenes are of course a staple in this historical gem of a read.  It does however, make you ask yourself some tough questions, whether you are a fan of Guy’s past works, or your first foray into his world, you certainly will not be  disappointed.

 

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#4 – Into The Heart of The Country – Pauline Holdstock

Set in eighteenth-century Canada, this compelling new novel takes the reader deep into unexplored territory. Appearing only fleetingly in the historical record of the Hudson’s Bay Company are the Native women who lived at the company’s Prince of Wales Fort and served as companions to the European traders — and whose survival was bound, for better or worse, to the fortunes of those men.

Across more than two centuries, the mixed-blood woman Molly Norton, daughter of Governor Moses and personal favourite of the explorer Samuel Hearne, speaks to us from her dreams. As the story of her liaison with Hearne unfolds, we move toward its tragic consequences. When their small society is torn apart, Molly and the other women find themselves and their children abandoned by their British masters. Now — in one of history’s cruel ironies — they must fend for themselves in the harsh country from which their own ancestors sprang.

Unflinching, powerful and rich in moral ambiguity, Into the Heart of the Country explores a tragic meeting of cultures that still reverberates in the present day. – Publishers Website

Wow, what a book ! Set in the desolate and often mostly un-inhabited northern areas of Canada during the 18th century, Pauline takes us into the wilds of Northern Manitoba during the time the English and French came to search for animal pets, work and settle.

The Norton’s, in particular the head of the settlement for the Hudson’s Bay Company sits in almost ambiguity as the Governor of the Prince of  Wales Fort. His family – a mix of English and Native people from the surrounding areas is uncommon as it was common to drink tea in Britain.  His daughter Molly undeniably half-blood, unprepared, under-dressed, and forbidden to learn the skills her Mother has learnt from her ancestors.

She is fearful of her father, even more fearful of the harsh wilderness that is right outside.  His tyrannical rule even spreads farther outside the desolation of the lands they trade furs.  He doesn’t trust anyone, ever.   Even more so as one of their Native acquaintances – Matonabbee; the head of the tribe that conducts business with the Governor from time to time.

At a time where Canada is being inhabited by people from Britain as well as France, this particular fort is forced to face the most dubious of forces.  Where there is an almost certainty of being double crossed, promises made that are  broken, or upheld amidst the harshest of circumstances.

How far would you go to protect, or destroy something that is in your way?  How far would you go to get what you wanted?  Is there anything you would do to get it and destroy the people in your way?

I was completely astonished in the way(s) that some people would do or say to get what they ultimately wanted.  The harshness of the wilderness that surrounded these people, the wish and will to survive.  Even now, in present day, the Native people of this country are still fighting for what they believe in.  They were the ones that were here first, only to have their lands and beliefs as well as to be good people stripped away from them, then and now.  This, is a story of not only tragedy, but of resilience, hope, love, and sadness.

I really enjoyed Pauline’s writing.  The book does go from past to present in mostly Molly’s voice as the story unfolds;  but also told from the perspective from other characters in the plot.  All I could think of while reading this book was how people, not only the natives who suffered, but also the people who came to begin a new life in Canada among the harshest of circumstances, the people who taught them how to survive, at all costs, wasn’t enough for some.

Into the Heart of the Country was long-listed for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.  Pauline was also a finalist for the 2004 Giller Prize for her book Beyond Measure, as well as the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the City of  Victoria Butler Book Prize.  She won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize that same year.

Pauline’s Website - Facebook - Goodreads - Canadian Bookshelf - Browse Inside 

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#3 – The Free World – David Bezmozgis

Summer, 1978. Brezhnev sits like a stone in the Kremlin, Israel and Egypt are inching toward peace, and in the bustling, polyglot streets of Rome, strange new creatures have appeared: thousands of Soviet Jews who have escaped to freedom through a crack in the Iron Curtain. Among the thousands who have landed in Italy to secure visas for new lives in the West are the members of the Krasnansky family — three generations of Russian Jews.

There is Samuil, an old communist and Red Army veteran, who reluctantly leaves the country to which he has dedicated himself body and soul; Karl, his eldest son, a man eager to embrace the opportunities emigration affords; his younger son, Alec, a carefree playboy for whom life has always been a game; and Polina, Alec’s new wife, who has risked the most by breaking with her old family to join this new one. Together, they will spend six months in Rome — their way station and purgatory. They will immerse themselves in the carnival of emigration, an Italy rife with love affairs and ruthless hustles, with dislocation and nostalgia, with the promise and peril of a better life. In the unforgettable Krasnansky family, Bezmozgis has created an intimate portrait of a tumultuous era.

Written in precise, musical prose, The Free World is a stunning début novel, a heartfelt multigenerational saga of great historical scope and even greater human depth. Enlarging on the themes of aspiration and exile that infused his first collection, Natasha and Other StoriesThe Free World establishes Bezmozgis as one of our most mature and accomplished storytellers. – Publishers Website

I wasn’t exactly sure when I received this book that I was going to like it, I don’t think anyone does right?

I wasn’t disappointed.  David begins the story in 1978, when hoards of Soviets are leaving the country they have known all their lives to begin new.  Where do they want to go? – America, Canada, anywhere where they wouldn’t have to be downtrodden.  They want a better future for their families, to begin again after so much has happened.

They first land in Italy, where the process of moving to a new country is started.  They meet some characters who are doing the same thing.  This family has gone through so much, as have the other people who are leaving their homeland for new places, people and things. As time goes on in Italy, they meet up with people they have known before, their stories as telling as their own – the sacrifices, the abuse, the hilarity of it all.  Just attempting to get where they want to be, how long it will take them.  They go on to find whatever normalcy they can.  I too am from a family whose family has left the Ukraine for a better life.  I wanted to read this book to perhaps get a glimpse into what my Grand Parents had to overcome to be able to come to Canada – for a better life, a new beginning.

I was impressed with how the book was written – with deep introspection into the life they had,  with what they will experience in the future.  The plans in place, the ones that aren’t.  They take things as they come, fostering new friends, solidifying old ones as they wait for their Visa’s.  Moving itself is a very stressful thing to do, but even moving from one country to another much more stressful.  The author writes as if he is there in the middle of it, experiencing it as we all read along with him as he writes.  As you could say – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly all wrapped into one. I quite enjoyed it.

The Free World was a finalist in the 2011 Governor General’s Literary Awards, and was shortlisted for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Goodreads - David’s Website - Twitter - Facebook - Browse Inside the Book

 

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#2 – Grace Williams Says it Loud – Emma Henderson

This isn’t an ordinary love story. But then Grace isn’t an ordinary girl.

‘Disgusting,’ said the nurse.

And when no more could be done, they put her away, aged eleven.

On her first day at the Briar Mental Institute, Grace meets Daniel. He sees a different Grace: someone to share secrets and canoodle with, someone to fight for. Debonair Daniel, who can type with his feet, fills Grace’s head with tales from Paris and the world beyond.

This is Grace’s story: her life, its betrayals and triumphs, disappointment and loss, the taste of freedom; roses, music and tiny scraps of paper. Most of all, it is about the love of a lifetime. – Publishers Website

Last year, I know, I know I have been dealing with stuff that is very important to me in my personal life, so this is yet another late review, but one that is absolutely lovely, lovely, lovely.

I loved Grace and her absolute grace throughout the book.  The author had used her late sisters voice for the voice of Grace.  It came through with love, acceptance, and most of all the ingenuity of people who suffer from physical and mental disabilities.  I think I actually hugged it after I read it, it was so good.  Grace lives in a home for disabled people.  The staff, and residents of this home couldn’t be more imaginative, or real for you to read, laugh, and cry when things go awry.  The innocence of Grace is breath-taking, a welcome part of the world that has been forgotten in this time and age.

I didn’t have the book, so I had to order it from overseas, which took a bit of time to arrive, but love it even more because of the tenderness of Grace, the things she does to help her friends in the home.  Wouldn’t we all need a bit of unconditional love from Grace.

Grace Williams is another book nominated for last year’s Orange Prize.

Goodreads - Tumblr - Writers Hub(excerpt)

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#1 – Repeat it Today With Tears – Anne Peile

A secretive child by nature, Susanna makes a covert list of everything she knows about her absent father, determined that one day she will find him. Unable and unwilling to adapt to life in her mother’s unsympathetic household, she distances herself as much as possible.When she finally discovers her father’s whereabouts and seeks him out, in the free and unconventional atmosphere of 1970s Chelsea, she conceals her identity, beginning an illicit affair that can only end in disaster.Repeat it Today with Tears is in many ways a traditional love story, as well as a skilful evocation of radical times and desires. It is a fever dream that examines our need to be loved and accepted and a piercing portrait of madness. Anne Peile is a striking new voice in fiction. – Publishers Website

First of all, let me say that the subject matter is more than just disturbing.  That is why it has taken me so long to publish this review.  I have mulled it over and over in my head about how I was going to broach the subject of the book, and decided to just get it over and done with.  It isn’t an awful book by any means.  The main plot is one that will have you asking yourself about your morals and values as it had me, for such a long time.

Anne’s writing is wonderful, the context of the book is well in a word shameful, taboo, not talked about.  I am not sure whether or not that was the reason she wrote this novel, but the main topic is something that wouldn’t be talked about in regular circles if you understand.  I apologize for being so cryptic, I don’t like to give away the plots of books, it is a sad story of a girl and her long-lost father who reunite when she is 16, as time goes by, well, you will understand what I mean if you buy the book and read it.

It was long-listed for last years Orange Prize 2011.

I’d love to add more stuff to the review, but I have searched far and wide and haven’t found anything.

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