What a beautiful family saga to sink into about four children suddenly orphaned, and drawn together by loss and love. The harsh realities of living in a remote and tiny farming community in Northern Ontario are the backdrop to this situation. The town is full of warmth and help and compassion for this family but the children are fiercely independent. Young Kate, the narrator of the story, worships her elder brother Matt, whose passionate interest in the natural world consoles and inspires her. The oldest brother Luke was a bored and sullen teenager but is transformed after the tragedy, turning from the family problem into the family solution. As an adult Kate struggles with a feeling of estrangement from her siblings, which she doesn’t quite understand and is borne of misunderstandings and resentments she didn’t even realise were there. Although this is a character driven novel, there is also a thrumming plot that moves the story steadily forward in effortless prose.
This was a reread, which is unusual for me, but I have to lead a book club meeting on it and I had read it so long ago (pre-log and pre-blog), that I decided to delve into it again and I’m so glad I did. I plan to also reread The Other Side of the Bridge. Lawson’s book Road Ends I read more recently, and was reviewed on this blog: click here.
I will repeat what I said in that review about the author: Lawson’s strength is in her ability to convey the nuance in complex family relationship using a very easy, economical writing style. Emotion is conveyed but it is never cloying. She makes me care about these people. I can relate to them. I long to understand them, I hurt for them, I cheer for them, I fear for them, and in the end I have a hard time letting them go.
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