Synopsis
Beautiful, vampish Darlene Oelpke is getting married again - to shoe-store Reg, a man tied to the family in ways few of them realize. Darlene's grown daughters, Vivian and Hannah, are home for the wedding. Along with their cousin Wren, born with deformed hands and an angelic nature, they revisit the landscape of their childhood - the sinister river that swallowed their father, the forest that seethes with insects. Together they unearth both ugly secrets and the strange resiliency of love.
Reviews
Set in a small town in Ontario, this delicately wrought family drama opens as Darlene Olepke, mother to Vivian and Hannah, prepares for her wedding to Reg Sinclair, the shoe store man. Vivian and Hannah's father, Mick, died in a tragic water-skiing accident many years ago, and since then Darlene has depended on a string of men for support. However, her inexplicable marriage to Reg, "a large pale man with a perm," dredges up memories and questions for Darlene's family. Darlene's two very different daughters, sharp-witted Vivian and dreamy Hannah, each narrate chapters, as do Angie, Darlene's practical sister, and Wren, Angie's deformed but sensitive daughter. Wren, sensitive to small wonders, draws parallels between human relations and the natural world-particularly the fragile and beautiful insects that inhabit the surrounding Ontario forests-that become increasingly relevant as darker truths about the town emerge. Despite the fine-grained loveliness of Hartog's prose, the novel suffers from a lack of focus, none of the characters crystallizing into distinct, memorable creations. The narrative swings freely from past to present and back again, sweeping memories of sticky summers and lost dreams in its wake. This patchwork construction, along with erratic pacing, decreases the tension and appeal of what is otherwise a beautifully rendered tale.
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Beguiling and beautiful Darlene Oelpke attracts men the way a lightning rod attracts electricity. Since she lacks the will to turn them away, her life has been an eventful one. Her story begins with her daughter Hannah driving back into their rural Canadian town to attend Darlene's second marriage. The point of view switches among her female relatives: daughters Hannah and Vivian, sister Angie, and niece Wren. As the four prepare for the ceremony, their flashbacks and musings disclose the present by circling in on events from their common past. Along the way, we see how death and betrayal, buried cruelties, and the fallibility of memory shaped the five women's lives. Vivid cinematic descriptions, epigrammatic phrasing, and the adroit use of dialogue distinguish the writing and provide vivid portraits of the five women. The ending of this impressive novel artfully refers back to the book's beginning, provides no easy answers, and closes the story with hope. Ellen Loughran
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