Set in 1867, Canada, this book revolves around workers and their families in a fur trapping company. In a small town where everyone knows everyone else and everything that happens, a man is brutally murdered. Yet no one saw anything. Then a 17 year old boy goes missing, and his mother sets off cross country to find him…
With a pace as slow as a middle aged housewife trudging through snow covered and wind swept countryside in a dozen petticoats, the story follows several characters as they weave their way in and out of each other’s lives. In addition to the murder, there are the mysteries of two young girls who went missing all those years ago, rumoured to have been either eaten by wolves or taken by a native tribe; the stone tablet with the strange markings that disappeared from the dead man’s belongings; and which of the two sisters Moody will fall for (the pretty one or the smart one?).
Ok I may have made it sound boring but I think I’m just not good at reading fiction. Based on other people’s reviews of this book, there was a lot of subtle yet beautiful emotional stuff going on – I admit that I completely missed that, as I was caught up in the descriptions of the countryside and the familiar theme of native people’s deep knowledge of their land in stark contrast to the foreign settlers bumbling around trying to control everything. I did enjoy the journey, even though the build up to a ‘big’ ending left me somewhat nonplussed. I guess in the world of fiction I’m just a non-fiction migrant stumbling my way around trying to fit things into boxes they’re not meant for.