Saturday 3 January 2009

Canadian Fiction

Finished January 2
The Outlander by Gil Adamson
I've had this one beside my bed for ages and have been reading it in small doses. The book follows the trail of a young widow, as she flees from her dead husband's brothers who want her for killing their brother. The action takes place in the early part of the twentieth century and the widow, Mary Boulton, flees across the prairies and into the Rockies. Mary is not well-educated despite being born well-off and never enjoyed an affectionate family life. Her marriage took her from an unhappy middle class life to an unhappy poverty-filled one and her flight now is one that also seeks a kind of happiness that she has never known. Benefiting from others' interest, Mary manages to survive in the mountains, and ends up in the southern Alberta town of Frank, where she is taken in by a preacher. Mary is a fascinating character, sympathetic and yet independent. She learns about community and happiness along her journey and I rooted for her the whole book.

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