The Final Canoe Ride - Softcover

Inger Margaret Foster

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692935223 ISBN 13: 9780692935224

Publisher: Hwin and Little Bear Press, 2017

Synopsis

The Final Canoe Ride takes its heroine, Meg Owens, on a journey through the onset of breast cancer and the subsequent months of debilitating treatments. Woven throughout the story are dream-state vignettes of Meg's past life, oftentimes presented while paddling a canoe. Navigating through life, her past and her present coexist as she enters the healing process, both physically and mentally. 

Although the characters in this story are fictional, the author drew on her own personal battle with breast cancer to accurately depict the main character's medical experiences. This book was written for everyone, not only the survivors of breast cancer, to hopefully help others better understand the difficulties that are faced while fighting this disease.

About this title

About the Author

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Inger and her family immigrated to the United States in the early 1960's. Growing up in the quiet suburban town of Ramsey, New Jersey, she attended Ramsey High School, where she developed her love for both writing and art. Later on, as an art major at William Paterson University, she eventually earned her Masters in Visual Arts, with concentrations in English and Education. 

Inger returned to her love of writing after her children headed to college. Essays became short stories, and the short stories eventually evolved into her first novel, The Final Canoe Ride. Meg, in her adult life, has flash backs to her childhood and teen years as she deals with an unexpected diagnosis of breast cancer. Split Soul, the sequel, gives subtle glimpses into Meg's life, mystically and unconventionally through the eyes of others.  Both stories are searches for self and soul, with the main characters linked as they travel on parallel paths.

Elke's Magic, the prequel to The Final Canoe Ride, opens with Elke (whom the town dubs the local witch) meeting fourteen year old Meg. Meg' s young life, touched on in The Final Canoe Ride, is brought to the forefront in the prequel, giving  both a poignant yet humorous take on friendship and the pangs of first love. 

Mandy's Dream brings together a few new characters with a few familiar friends! In this newest novel in the series, Jessica Taylor, one of Meg's high school friends, discovers an intriguing situation while in the midst of creating a painting. She recruits Meg and the two friends use their talents to bring about a what could only be construed as miracle. In their quest to help one person overcome her past, they inadvertently help to heal the pasts of others.

From the Back Cover

Meg Owens, aged 48, is unexpectedly diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Her journey is presented in straight forward, no-holds-barred, fact based, graphic and often gory detail. Drifting in and out of consciousness throughout her painful surgical procedures, her dreams and thoughts flow, in seemingly sequential bursts of suppressed memories. Flashbacks, coupled with the parallel of navigating a canoe and navigating though her many difficulties merge the past with the present, blending and muting the dividing lines.

A difficult mother/daughter relationship hounds her thoughts, yet helps her understand how and why she has the strength to go through the difficulties she has had to face. And she sees the common thread from childhood, where her intuitive and empathetic nature first emerge to later guide her to be the woman she had become. Her gentler father, sister, and best friend, then later her supportive husband and children are whom she learns to lean on, helping her to conquer some of her challenges. And to help her to also face her losses with bravado.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hwin and Little Bear Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0692935223
• ISBN 13: 9780692935224
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Karen Busch Holman