Down There by the Train: A Novel - Hardcover

Sterns, Kate

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0609610155 ISBN 13: 9780609610152

Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books, 2003

Synopsis

Levon Hawke is a kind, gentle fellow who has been in prison for a hapless and almost comical misunderstanding. The first thing he does upon being paroled is head to his old friend Sweeney’s diner. There Hawke considers his cousin Simon Tibeault’s job offer to work in his bakery on a small nearby island with a suspect history. Lulled by Sweeney’s stories and the comfort of the diner, Hawke misses the only ferry. But, provisioned with doughnuts and Sweeney’s map, he sets out anyway across the frozen part of the lake, alone and in failing light.

A ruined house, deep in a dark forest, is the first thing he sees after stumbling ashore on the wrong end of the island. It is the glimmer of light beneath the door that brings him closer. Behind the door, he meets tall, redheaded Obdulia Limb, grieving for her mother, ten years dead.

Drawn in by Obdulia’s overbearing father and her octogenarian femme fatale of a stepmother, Hawke tries to resist their scheme to involve him in a comic yet gruesome conspiracy to cure Obdulia of her grief. But love has other plans for him.

Packed with magic, comic misunderstandings, and metaphorical brilliance, Down There by the Train is a witty and wistful gothic romance by a writer of exceptional talent.

About this title

About the Author

Kate Sterns was born in Toronto in 1961 and grew up in Kingston, Ontario. Her first novel, Thinking About Magritte, was published to acclaim in 1992. She lives in Montreal.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Levon Hawke is a kind, gentle fellow who has been in prison for a hapless and almost comical misunderstanding. The first thing he does upon being paroled is head to his old friend Sweeney’s diner. There Hawke considers his cousin Simon Tibeault’s job offer to work in his bakery on a small nearby island with a suspect history. Lulled by Sweeney’s stories and the comfort of the diner, Hawke misses the only ferry. But, provisioned with doughnuts and Sweeney’s map, he sets out anyway across the frozen part of the lake, alone and in failing light.<br><br>A ruined house, deep in a dark forest, is the first thing he sees after stumbling ashore on the wrong end of the island. It is the glimmer of light beneath the door that brings him closer. Behind the door, he meets tall, redheaded Obdulia Limb, grieving for her mother, ten years dead. <br><br>Drawn in by Obdulia’s overbearing father and her octogenarian femme fatale of a stepmother, Hawke tries to resist their scheme to involve him in a comic yet gruesome conspiracy to cure Obdulia of her grief. But love has other plans for him.<br><br>Packed with magic, comic misunderstandings, and metaphorical brilliance, <b>Down There by the Train</b> is a witty and wistful gothic romance by a writer of exceptional talent.

Reviews

Sterns's second novel (after 1992's Thinking about Magritte) is the fictional equivalent of a beautiful layered dessert-a trifle, say: its narrative studded with word play, soaked in allusions, slathered with medical arcana. Some Canadian reviewers ate it up, but this fairy tale may be a bit rich for the American palate. Take the hero's name: Levon Hawke. Not only is it "novel" spelled backwards, it's also a homophone for the Levin in Anna Karenina, which Levon's beloved little sister, Alice (as in Wonderland) was reading at the time of her tragic death. The plot also involves two star-crossed lovers, a cooking contest called Babbitt's Feast, the power of baker's yeast not only to leaven dough but, perhaps, to raise the dead and the interplay (lexical and spiritual) between good and God. For all the verbal games, Sterns tells a real story here: Levon, out on parole and in need of a job, finds himself in a strange town, working at a strange bakery and coming to grips with his grief over the loss of Alice, who is childhood personified. Meanwhile, Obdulia Limb, whom Levon inadvertently saves from poisoning herself and eventually grows to love, must move beyond mourning for her mother, Hereword, who committed suicide. Against a gothic island landscape somewhere in Canada, the haunted Levon and the morbid herbalist Obdulia work out their redemption through a delicious pulp romance. The ogres, internal and external, are defeated in the name of love, and the story comes full circle, thanks to a nice cup of tea and Obdulia's redemptive decision to "be mother."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This is a macabre tale of resurrection that focuses entirely on death--of the spirit, the body, the earth, knowledge of self, and knowledge of history. Levon has lost his beloved sister to a random accident and shortly thereafter is jailed for a strange crime committed in an alcoholic stupor. Upon being released from prison, he is summoned to the island home of distant relatives. There he meets Obdulia, who has for years grieved her mother's suicide. Both are consumed by their losses, and the world around them is bleak, haunted, and lonely. As their odd families find bizarre and horrifying ways to extend a healing hand, Levon recounts historical remedies by William Harvey, and Obdulia explores the recipes for mystic potions left to her by her mother and grandmother. Though it is clear from the novel's outset that they are destined to be each other's remedy, the eerie beauty of Sterns' language and the circular changes in narrative perspective make the journey to this fated end mesmerizing nonetheless. Debi Lewis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

An old-fashioned Coca-Cola sign hung above the door, creaking in the breeze. Red plastic letters that could be removed or scrambled to make new words were slotted into ledges, like a child's learn-to-read toy. The first line said Sweeney's Diner. Reputable since 1955. Underneath that was an advertisement for the $2.99 breakfast. Served all day. And then: Go d eats here.
He blinked twice, speculating as to whether Sweeney had succumbed in his old age to an uncharacteristic bout of religious fervour. Levon's aunt, Anna-Lee, had switched from the Anglican church to the Pentecostal after her divorce (More action! she claimed), and now spoke in tongues. Without stopping, his father grumbled.
Levon soon identified the problem: there was a gap between the o and the d. A letter had slipped in its mooring and sailed off on the wind. A missing, what, consonant? Gord eats here. No, of course not. A vowel, then. An o. That was it. The sign should have read Good eats here. God was meant to be good. How scandalized Anna Lee would be at the notion that He was a mere typo: an error. An absence. Levon guffawed. Religion, Harvey's great discovery, grief - that's all boiled down to in the end: a red o. A bloody circle with nothing at the centre of it.
To occupy his time while waiting for Sweeney's to open, Levon decided to search for the letter. First, he looked about at his feet but saw no telltale splash of red.
He'd have to seek it further afield.
The snow on the pavement was worn down and grubby as an old bar of soap. Ice, partially thawed, then frozen again, felt nubbly on the soles of his shoes. He trod accidentally on a patch of smoother ice and his feet shot forward while his upper body jerked back, as if a rug had been yanked out from under him. His arms windmilled in an undignified effort to right himself. He would have to watch his step. His shoes were prison-issue after all, designed to stick only to the straight and narrow.

Edition details

• Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0609610155
• ISBN 13: 9780609610152
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272