There’s a myth that in summer we want to read only light and fluffy novels while sunning on the beach. Nonsense! We need good books full of complex characters and twisting plots during all seasons. Here are three of the better summer offerings by local authors.
*The Red Thread - $20 - Contact Robert at 604-886-3888
Writer and playwright Robert MacDonald lives in an assisted living apartment at Christenson Village in Gibsons. He copes with his Parkinson’s disease and he stays an active guy. He has written plays, two of which were performed at the Heritage Playhouse, and he was once the publisher of a wellness magazine. In the words of his character, Lewis, in The Red Thread, he’s too young to be old.
When a friend of MacDonald’s expressed that she’d rather die than have to move to a care home, he recognized her fear and decided to write something about what life was like at his home. Christenson is not your typical old folks home, he points out, as it is more community based. At first he tried writing a documentary about a day in the life of a senior coping with Parkinson’s.
“It was non-fiction with all kinds of statistics,” he told Coast Reporter, “but that’s not me.” His creative side took over and he has produced a novella-length series of fictional pieces that incorporate elements of adventure and of love story. When a major upheaval of nature strikes the care home, it is up to Lewis to play a hero’s role in rescuing a care aide from disaster. His little dog, Lucky Lou, the darling of Christenson, also figures as a character in the stories. Some of the other residents might also recognize themselves – slightly fictionalized, of course.
Illustrations are by local artist Makiko Kitama and the manuscript has been professionally edited by the Coast’s Marion Quednau. Though typing is an obstacle for someone with a Parkinson’s tremour, MacDonald is nonetheless at work on Part 2, writing about 500 words a day, energized by the process. “Writing is now my joy,” he says.
*Stormy Cove - Amazon Crossing - $22.95 - Available at Talewind Books, Sechelt
Bernadette Calonego’s fourth and latest novel, Stormy Cove, is a first class thriller with a touching romantic element. Her character, Lori Finning, is a professional photographer from Vancouver who receives a mysterious assignment to document the lives of townfolk in a remote village in Newfoundland. She arrives there in winter and learns to cope with Arctic conditions on “The Rock.” Though the people she meets are friendly, almost too friendly – it appears that gossiping is the provincial sport – there is one subject no one talks about, the murder of a young woman, Jacinta, 20 years previously. Lori is drawn to the taciturn Noah, a fisherman, who takes her under his wing. But she wonders: does he know something about the death of Jacinta?
The authenticity of the book is obviously drawn from Calonego’s own experience, and this is what breathes life into it. Though Calonego is frequently to be seen on the Sunshine Coast, she now lives in Newfoundland during the summer – ever since she met and became involved with a fisherman there. The author writes in German – she’s originally from Switzerland – but the translation by Gerald Chapple is a good one with only a few oddities. Calonego’s next novel is almost ready for a publisher. I’m looking forward.
*The Dancehall Years - $23.95 - Mother Tongue Publishing – Available at Talewind Books, Sechelt
This complex novel of families and time passing by Joan Haggerty is difficult to summarize briefly. It opens in the summer of 1939, when a family could enjoy dreamy days of idleness and ice cream at the cottage on Bowen Island or fall in love at the Bowen dance hall. The war will change all that, not only for the Japanese in Vancouver who are to be evacuated, but for everyone.
Haggerty’s writing is fragrant with the scents of the time, finely crafted and dense with detail. But curiously, the dialogue does not use punctuation or attribute the speaker, making it difficult at times to follow the thread of the conversation. Nonetheless, it is a powerful book. Haggerty will be launching The Dancehall Years on Bowen Island on Aug. 13.
