Away
“Away by Jane Urquhart!
This is the first time reading anything by Jane Urquhart and I am very glad that I took the opportunity to read this novel. We all have families and ancestors that we may know very little about or almost nothing at all. Away captures one family’s struggle from the...”
“Away by Jane Urquhart!
This is the first time reading anything by Jane Urquhart and I am very glad that I took the opportunity to read this novel. We all have families and ancestors that we may know very little about or almost nothing at all. Away captures one family’s struggle from the 1840’s on. The wording took me on a journey of memory with an ease that I have rarely felt in any other book.
The main character, Mary, has an experience with something that not quite real and it leaves her different to the point of changing her name to Moira for a time. She eventually marries and it is with her husband, Brian O’Malley, that she leaves Ireland for Canada and hopefully a better life. But in Canada there are still struggles to maintain life. Brian and Mary eventually will have two children, Liam and Eileen. Family is what holds this story together. There is a sense that everything will be alright as long as the family stays and works together.
Jane Urquhart has a way with words as is shown in Away. Her wording is magnificent and draws the reader into memories and thoughts, perhaps of better times ahead. As an example: “She comes to the end of the orchard and slowly pivots, turning her back to the posted signs that announce DANGER EXPLOSIVES to the aluminum pier, the conveyor belt, and she begins the creeping walk back.” You can almost see the orchard and get a sense that the walk will be long and slow. Or this line is line: “I’ve been eaten alive by the buzzing air,” the man was saying to the cows, “and sick as a dog in the halfway houses.” Can’t you just feel the air buzzing around you, alive with insects?
As I said at the beginning of this post, this is the first time reading anything by this Canadian author, Jane Urquhart and Away has left me eager to read more from her. My rating for this novel is *****.
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