Michael Crummey in his novel River Thieves (FIC CRU) has written a fictionalized account of British naval officer David Buchan's attempts in the early eighteen hundreds to establish friendly contact with the Beothuk or "Red Indians" the aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland facing extinction.
The capture of a Red Indian woman and the murder of her husband during one of the Peyton family expeditions brings Buchan in to investigate the truth of the kidnapping.
The writing is very evocative of the harsh cold winters in the River of Exploits and Red Indian Lake area of Newfoundland, and I found myself putting on a sweater as I read about Buchan, the Peyton family and the other residents, and the historic allegiances and grudges that colour their relationships.
There is no sense of exuberance or lushness here.
At times I wanted to tell the characters what to do but knew it would be useless (obviously). These personalities, each with their own secrets, were bent on their own course of action and would not be swayed.
Try this Canadian novel, or one of these other titles.
Victoria: The Unknown City by Ross Crockford. 2006. (ANF 917.112804 CRO)
The home of the "newly wed and nearly dead", Victoria has also got punk bands, secret satanic cults, one of North America's oldest Chinatowns, cougars, killer whales, historical sites, ghosts, and some of the world's best resorts and restaurants.
Tremor by Craig Dirgo. 2006. Fiction (FIC DIR)
There are unusual surges of electricity from the former Yugoslavia. Special Agent John Taft is sent to investigate and uncovers a conspiracy of terror powered by a machine capable of targeting any location.
The Painting: A Novel by Nina Schuyler. 2004. Fiction. (FIC SCH)
This story set in Japan in the 1860"s and Paris in the Franco-Prussian War revolves around four people, Ayoshi the painter, Hayashi her husband, Jorgen her lover and Natalia the shopkeeper who seeks Jorgen's help in the French resistance.
Casualties by Terrence Heath. 2005. Fiction. (FIC Hea)
Clara is clearing out her dead husband's clothes after the funeral and finds a note in his tuxedo. It is an old note with a short message that starts "I killed Margaret". Questions flow and the story then starts at the beginning.
The Way Into Narnia: A Reader's Guide by Peter J. Schakel. 2005. (ANF 823.912 SCH)
The practical companion you need for your journey through C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Schakel interprets these stories as fairy tales, a counterbalance to the Sunday School Lessons others see them as.
Blonde Lightning: A Novel by Terrill Lee Lankford. 2005. Fiction. (FIC LAN)
Mark Hayes spends his last bit of savings to produce a film being written by a hard-drinking screenwriter and starring a popular action star and a sexy up-and-comer. Trouble comes almost immediately.
The Prisoner Pear: Stories From The Lake by Elissa Minor Rust. 2005. Fiction. (FIC RUS)
The dozen stories take place in an affluent suburb of Portland, Oregon. Each story begins with an entry from the local paper's police blotter and then goes on from there.
Madhouse: A Tragic Tale Of Megalomania And Modern Medicine by Andrew Scull. 2005. (ANF 616.890097 SCU)
Henry Cotton, superintendent of the Trenton State Hospital, New Jersey, in the early twentieth century, came to believe mental illnesses were the product of chronic infections. He embarked on a ruthless campaign to "eliminate the perils of pus infection".
- For more information or to request books online, go to www.virl.bc.ca