Saltsea - Softcover

Helwig, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1897231105 ISBN 13: 9781897231104

Publisher: Biblioasis, 2006

Synopsis

"Birdsong, wind: here by the ocean every noise was surrounded by silence that reached all the way to the stars. Monica studied the white shingled building above the slope of green lawn, deep bays rising two storeys on each side of the front door and the windowed porch. You felt the big rambling construction must have a memory, old thoughts. Listen, I am the voice of what once was. I am as real as the beating of your hungry heart. A flash of sun blinded her, a pirouette of the dazzling god."
So begins David Helwig's Saltsea. A lovely, meditative novel, a story about memory, and about how what once was continues to affect what is and what will be. It is the story of a place, of the family that used to own it, and the people who have been its caretakers. Saltsea, a hotel on the shores of Prince Edward Island, where people come for a brief time, their lives intersecting in intimate and unforeseen ways. The characters of Saltsea are finely drawn, with humour, love and compassion. Sadness and even tragedy are a constant here, but Helwig handles it all humanely, without sentimentality, and with the control of a writer at the height of his powers. Saltsea, befitting a novel so concern with memory, is not something you will soon forget.

About this title

About the Author:

David Helwig: David Helwig is the author of more than 35 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction including, most recently, The Year One (Gaspereau Press), Duet and his autobiography The Name of Things (Porcupine’s Quill). The founder of the Best Canadian Short Story Series, he has edited more than 25 books for Oberon Press. His avocation, however, is not writing but vocal music. After abandoning this for some years, he returned to it in his forties and has sung with a number of choirs in Kingston, Montreal and Charlottetown. He currently lives in an old house in the village of Eldon in Prince Edward Island.

Review:

"The impetus of the story is love, in all its forms -- love, lust, affection, friendship, hatred. And it is marvellously told."—The Indextrious Reader

"Helwig’s writing is both poetic and panoramic, and it defines the setting in such concrete detail that it conjures smells and sounds to accompany the images."—Canadian Literature


"The impetus of the story is love, in all its forms -- love, lust, affection, friendship, hatred. And it is marvellously told."—The Indextrious Reader

"Helwig’s writing is both poetic and panoramic, and it defines the setting in such concrete detail that it conjures smells and sounds to accompany the images."—Canadian Literature

About this edition

• Publisher: Biblioasis
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1897231105
• ISBN 13: 9781897231104
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216