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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Love and work: A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

20/3/2015

 
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Patrick Gale’s wonderful sixteenth novel opens with a disturbing bathroom scene. Incarcerated in a mental asylum, Harry is manhandled by a couple of attendants into a hot bath where he’ll be held immobile for hours, ostensibly to calm him; whether it could, when I was having palpitations merely reading about it, seemed unlikely. A relief then, to move with Harry a few pages later to a more benign institution, a therapeutic community by the river. Yet he remains haunted by a previous trauma:

These memories lay in rooms he couldn’t enter. In the quiet moments of lucidity between baths, he had approached them close enough to sense they were wrapped in a grief so powerful that even to put his hand on the doorknobs would fry his skin. (p11)

Moving back and forth in place and time, between his convalescence in the community and a life that has taken him from upper-middle-class England to the newly colonised Canadian prairies in the early years of the twentieth century, the doors to those troubling memories are gradually opened to us.

The elder of two orphaned brothers, his horizons limited by his own stammering shyness and an inheritance that deprives him of the need to earn his living, Harry Cane marries almost the first woman he encounters. Despite the fact that Winnie loves another, and some ill-advised investments requiring them to live more modestly, the marriage seems to suit him, especially when their daughter comes along. But an affair with a man who claims he can cure his stammer makes Harry reckless; to avoid a scandal and probably prison, he’s forced to flee the country. Yet even then, with the pain of separation from his wife, child and lover, Harry sees this as an opportunity:

Since boyhood, probably since his mother’s death, he had periodically indulged in fantasies of being liberated by catastrophe. War would descend around him, or revolution, plague, earthquake, tidal wave, something elemental and huge that would shatter all certainty and stability and leave him suddenly, dizzyingly free. (p59)

Like Jack and Mabel in The Snow Child, Henry is challenged by life in the wilderness. Yet unlike Jay in Soil, he learns to make a success of his farm. In his neighbours, siblings Petra and Paul (reminiscent of the unconventional Kitty and her brother in another story of extreme survival, The Surfacing), he finds support – both practical and emotional – friendship and love. It seems, as Freud famously didn’t say, that love and work have been the making of him. Like Rebecca in Still Life with Bread Crumbs, he’s been given a second chance, until societal disapproval, a violent rapist, war and influenza threaten his happiness once again.

A Place Called Winter is a beautifully written and tender novel about one man’s journey to find himself, loosely based on the life of the author’s maternal grandfather. Harry’s anxieties about his sexuality is made more poignant by the reader’s ability to look back from more enlightened times. But this, along with the references to the racism and sexism of the time, is never heavy-handed. When Petra, wanting to better understand her husband’s relationship with her brother, asks if the men’s connection is emotional as well as physical, he tells her:

“I suppose, in a different world … if everyone felt differently, it would be both. When a thing has always been forbidden and must live in darkness and silence, it’s hard to know how it might be, if allowed to thrive.” (p270)

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But what of the Native Americans, you might be wondering. In the therapeutic community, Harry befriends a Cree he encounters first in female garb as Ursula, then as the more masculine Little Bear, who helps to heal his soul. I was intending to save this part of the novel for another post on gender-crossing in fiction, but when Charli Mills began rounding up the Rough Writers with another flash fiction prompt, I thought I’d have a bash at condensing Ursula’s story into 99 words. Charlie is corralling in stories about symptoms, a word that, for me, evokes not a means of diagnosing a problem in order to soothe it, but a way of pathologising a person’s struggle to be. It also chimes Yvonne Spence’s follow-up to the compassion blogathon, requesting posts to counteract bullying to mark the UN World Day of Social Justice (although surely that needs more than one day), as I think bullying can sometimes be disguised as help. Anyway, here’s my tentative contribution. I acknowledge that I know very little about First Nation cultures – although I did find some interesting references on the concept of two-spirit identities within Cree culture – so I sincerely hope that my effort doesn’t compound existing harm:

What was wrong with the boy? We’d given him so much. Clean sheets, sturdy boots instead of moccasins, a proper education. When he was sick, we had the doctor dose him with medicine, not those stinking herbal potions and dances round the fire. When he was lonely, we bade him kneel before the Lord.

Yet he wouldn’t succumb. Parading in bonnets and dresses, he mumbled about being two-souls, male and female both. It saddened us to take the lash to him, but we had no choice. We had to beat the Indian out of him. For his own good.

Now, back to the novel: if you’re interested in the history of the European colonisation of North America, if you enjoy un-soppy romance, if you like to read about characters who are required to keep the essence of who they are secret and/or you simply want to read a novel that’s a pleasure from beginning to end, I can highly recommend A Place Called Winter. Thanks to Tinder Press for my proof copy.


Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
Susan Zutautas link
20/3/2015 06:56:46 am

A Place Called Winter sounds like a book I'd very much enjoy.

Your flash is amazing!

Annecdotist
24/3/2015 05:44:25 am

Thanks, Susan, I appreciate your support.

Stephanie Jane link
20/3/2015 07:22:05 am

I've got this to read via NetGalley and am very much looking forward to it. Love Gale's writing and your review has convinced me that A Place Called Winter is just my sort of read.

Annecdotist
24/3/2015 05:45:48 am

Lovely to connect with you, Stephanie. I do hope you enjoy this wonderful novel.

Charli Mills
20/3/2015 05:09:18 pm

This is definitely a book I'd love to read! I like that you've described the author as not being heavy-handed with these issues, yet reflecting from a more evolved time. In that gaze, I think that writers can be compassionate about what seems like atrocities in the past.

I like how you regard symptoms, of course, your training. I spent the entire morning in training with several therapists who operate a community resource center. The organization does not provide services, but it builds relationships with those in need to help find the services they need and to follow up and identify gaps in our community. I'll be doing marketing pro bono for them. I'm just impressed with their commitment to compassionately respect people while also diagnosing the situations they are in to help them find solutions or necessary care.

Powerful flash. It's so painful to think that the narrator truly believes that racism is actually salvation. You've got that vibe of representing a character in a different time and mindset. And yes, the UN needs to focus a bit longer on World Justice than a single day of awareness.

Annecdotist
24/3/2015 05:52:52 am

Your new project with the community resource centre sounds interesting, Charli. I like the idea of diagnosing context rather than people.
I'm glad you thought the flash worked, especially when you have much more knowledge about Native American cultures than I have. I think so many colonisers thought they were doing the right thing, driven by religion and other strong ideologies. It can be hard to take a step back and admit that others have the right to make choices we might disagree with.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on this novel if you get to read it.

Norah Colvin link
20/3/2015 08:42:17 pm

Hi Anne,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about and review of this book. I think I'd struggle to get past the opening scene, I'd find that horrifying. But your review may convince me it was worth it to continue reading.
I must have to do a reading comprehension course, I think. I'm struggling with this one again. I can't seem to figure out which character is Henry and which is Harry; or whether wife Peta is the same wife who was the first woman who came along. I know you can't tell too much in a review. Maybe that's my problem. I just want you to tell me everything as I won't have time to read it.
I love the description of memories from the book. I think I can get an inkling of what that is like. Also the thought of being rescued by a catastrophe. Sometimes it seems like it will take something of monumental proportions to make a change.
And your flash is so powerful. It made me think of the indigenous situation here with children removed from their families "for their own good". How shortsighted people can be. And how self-righteous.
Like Charli, I find it interesting that the author looks back on these times with compassion. The brutal acts would have been accepted as normal at the time. After all, they had no choice. But feeling compassion for and acceptance of all parties is probably necessary for finding a way forward.

Annecdotist
23/3/2015 03:36:02 am

Yikes, I've just come back to the blog after a busy weekend and skimmed the comments. I'm horrified that I've been muddling names yet again! The main character's name is Harry Cane, not Henry Crane as it's morphed into a couple of times in this review. I'm off to correct that now and will come back to the rest of the comments later today. Thanks for flagging this up.

Annecdotist
24/3/2015 06:02:11 am

Apologies again for the confusion. That Henry is Harry is down to my increasing muddling of names; your uncertainty about Petra is down to me missing out information in an attempt to be concise: Harry's first wife eventually divorces him for desertion and Petra is his second wife.
I would recommend a read or listen to this one – although Harry suffers a fair amount of unpleasantness, this novel seems more a celebration of the human spirit.
I was interested that the flash also made you think of the situation in Australia. I was reminded, as I was writing it, of a film we were shown in primary school in which a boy is taken from his cultural setting in order to be westernised. I can't remember now whether it was about the indigenous people of Australia or North America; nor have I any idea of why we were shown it, what message we were supposed to take, but I do remember feeling quite sad about it. If it were meant as an exercise in compassion, however, I'm not convinced it worked, as I think I was more confused than anything!

Luccia Gray link
21/3/2015 07:47:40 am

Great flash. Some people consider being different as being sick in some way. Dreadful how they'll do anything to make others conform to their idea of 'normal' and believe they're 'right'. People who are always right and know all the answers terrify me. I agree with Nora, I'm not sure if I could get past the begining but you almost persuade:) Great review.

Annecdotist
24/3/2015 06:04:54 am

Thanks, Lucy, and totally agree that a sense of certainty in people's terrifying. Such a pity there's so much of it in politicians.
I think you could probably get past the beginning – after all, Jane Eyre has its gruesome scenes and you've read that often enough!

Irene Waters link
24/3/2015 12:57:49 am

The book sounds like a book worth reading. Another one for the book list. I loved your flash - it really showed the thought processes of the time. I too tackled first nation peoples (funny how our minds can come to a similar point without any prompting other than the prompt).

Annecdotist
24/3/2015 06:06:52 am

It is well worth a read, Irene.
Interesting the coincidence of our flash fiction topics – with your nursing background I might have expected medical symptoms from you – off to read yours now.

geoff link
25/3/2015 03:13:27 am

The flash is up there with your best. It's super and, while like you I'm ignorant of First nation issues in any meaningful sense you seem to convey perfectly the weary needfulness of the worthy in doing their painful duty. I enjoyed the review too. It reminds me a little, talking about handling issues such as racism sensitively hen I did my MA. One theme I wanted to touch on in Dead Flies was the racism I was painfully aware around me in rural Hampshire which clashed with what I was beginning to understand from living in a University city with a significant Afro Caribbean population such as Bristol. My tutor fought hard for me to remove any racist component from Harry's mother when she meets the displaced Ojha family that comes to stay. She was firmly of the view modern readers wouldn't understand how someone who was meant to engender some sympathy could be so narrow minded. I kept it in albeit in a watered down way (and probably lost marks as a result) and so far no one has commented on this either way. It is tricky dealing with such issues when the modern context is so different.

Annecdotist
25/3/2015 06:12:33 am

Umm, I think it might be rather optimistic to think that the modern reader wouldn't get the racism, since, as with sexism and homophobia, it's still around us, even if time has moved on. But hard to do well, I imagine, and especially in a comedy. I admire you sticking to your guns. For a novel set in 1976, wouldn't we be surprised if there were NO racism?


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