Heron river:
a novel
author: Hugh Cook
mosaic Press, 2012.
280 pages. $22.95
animals and vulnerable people are at the heart of the fourth book of
fiction from Hamilton, Ont.,
author Hugh Cook. They inspire reflection on compassion, innocence and evil in
a narrative woven around a
handful of characters in the
town of Caithness, a fictionalized version of Caledonia, Ont.
Caithness is a semi-rural
area adjacent to the Six Nations Indian Reserve on the
banks of the Grand River,
about 100 km southwest of Toronto – not far from Hamilton.
(Full disclosure: I took courses
from Cook as a student at Redeemer University College
and now teach his third-year
creative writing course.)
Heron River’s protagonist is Madeline, who in 1994
is a middle-aged high school
teacher coping with multiple
sclerosis as well as guilt from
an accident that caused brain
damage in her son Adam 20
years before. Madeline regularly visits her aged father in
a medical facility – he suffers
from dementia and doesn’t
seem to understand most communication.
Adam in 1994 is an adult
who occasionally visits her
from a nearby group home.
The novel also focuses
on Jacob, a good-
hearted paperboy
who gets his thrills
slipping into the
homes of customers
on vacation; Tara, a
policewoman hurt
while intervening
in a domestic dis-
pute; and Orrin, a
troubled young man from a
dysfunctional family.
animals is significant, an idea underlined by Keller, a Native character who
befriends Adam
and shares Native
creation stories that
highlight the fragility
of the world.
The novel’s Christian elements are mostly implicit rather than explicit, and
characters occasionally use
foul language. Like many literary novels it’s big on character
and description and sometimes
dark in mood, but it sticks to
everyday language and includes suspense and hopeful
elements. A great choice for a
reading group.
–Bill Fledderus
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