Like the bittersweet conclusion all the bad things that happen end up feeling like just part and parcel of the circle of life.ĭifficult opening aside this is a novel that gets richer with each passing page and one that certainly demands a second look.Set in Williams Lake and the Chilcotin, Frances Greenslade's debut novel, Shelter is mostly about two sisters in search of their mother. The tone is never hectoring, though, and it never feels like the men are being bashed either by the characters or the author herself. Men don’t come off especially well, with husbands and fathers either entirely physically absent or emotionally so - and in the latter case more often than not drink is the reason. What could have been a particularly trite section, as Maggie moves from one figure from her mother’s past to another, actually then becomes one of the most satisfying of all as she learns more and more about the woman she always thought she knew so well. Set in a remote outcrop of northern Canada this is a story about families - the kind you get landed with and the kind you create for yourself - in a place where myth, legend and things that should be only dreams seem to float very close to the surface of “real” life.Īfter Maggie and Jenny are separated by circumstance the former sets off to try and find the mother who had kept in touch by occasional letter before seeming to disappear entirely. Maggie is not alone in the world, even without her parents, thanks to her sister Jenny.Ĭlear opposites - Maggie’s a bit of a tomboy enjoying her father’s company most of all while Jenny is rarely without a Barbie to hand - their relationship is nevertheless close and only becomes more so when they suddenly have no one left in the world but each other. But that slog, I feel, could put many readers off, which would be a real shame. Of course it’s really much more than that, and having now read the whole thing I just want to go back and do it all again. The back cover blurb makes clear the main difficulties to be faced by central character Maggie - a tragic work accident will befall her father, and then the disappearance of her mother.įor almost the entire first third of the book it was simply a matter of waiting for these things to happen, making a sizeable chunk of what turns out to be a very impressive piece of work indeed feel like a rambling and largely unnecessary preface. KNOWING too much from the outset almost killed enjoyment of this novel for me.

Shelter by Frances Greenslade