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Rain by Morning (Harbour $24.95)
As the number of Canadian soldiers killed in combat in Afghanistan climbs, Canadians are asking-why go to war? That question, and what Michael Poole describes as the enduring stigma of desertion in World War I, are the basis for Rain by Morning, an old fashioned romance of lovers in a dangerous time.
Set in the fictional town of Silva Landing on the Sunshine Coast in 1913, Rain by Morning tells the tale of a dangerous liaison between young Nathan and Leah, as their love at first sight endures against unlikely odds, parents' wishes, war and distance.
War is hell but its nothing compared to lovers spurned, or at least delayed. Leah is shipped off to a convent school while Nathan considers going to university. Poole develops Leah's voice-one of the novel's great strengths-while she is in the convent. In a letter Leah writes to Nathan we get a glimpse of her character and future:
"I don't believe I take uncharitable dislikes to people, but I cannot help feeling anger and resentment toward Sister Robuchaud, the Mistress of Discipline. I believe she takes pleasure in punishing us. She plays favourites, and I am certainly not one of them. She told me that I have a "rebellious and independent nature"; which she intends to break. If she keeps riding me, there will be trouble and I won't stand for it.";
Poole is particularly interested in the role of individuals in the service of institutions and country, and the ethical and moral decisions one is faced with in serving those forces. In his previous book, Romancing Mary Jane: A Year in the Life of a Failed Marijuana Grower, Poole explored the ethics and perils of growing pot on the Sunshine Coast.
As Poole mentions in his author's notes no shortage of books have been written about World War 1, but what has gone missing in action are accounts of Canadian nurses. Fair enough, but it is worth noting that Ernest Hemingway's classic A Farewell to Arms set in World War I is the great love affair of a nurse (granted not Canadian) and a wounded soldier.
Once out of the convent Leah and Nathan enjoy a brief idyllic fling among the hidden estuaries and islands of the West Coast before returning to Silva Landing to face their uncertain future. Leah is shipped off to a nursing school. When World War I breaks out, she is sent to a hospital near Etaples, France. Nathan, a conscientious objector, takes on the dangerous work of a high rigger in a logging camp.
In France Leah experiences the horrors of war first-hand and only occasionally hears from Nathan. Her faith tested, Leah reaches out to a young British deserter she discovers while out on a bike ride and she chooses to feed him. Her actions lead to her eventual banishment from the military and nursing, but not without a fight. When she returns to Nathan, who has been injured in a logging accident, she is more determined than ever that he not go off to fight in a war she has witnessed.
Alienated by his community for remaining behind while others serve, Nathan is angrily confronted by townsfolk he has known all his life. In an exchange with Leah he indicates that his will has begun to weaken: "Look, Leah I'm just so goddamed tired of it all, sick to death of nasty looks, the remarks, having to explain myself, all that crap.";
She replies: "As chance would have it, I know exactly how you feel. You see, Nathan, I didn't leave France voluntarily. I was thrown out for breaking the rules. I was an outcast, pointed at, scorned, just like you.";
United as outcasts, Leah and Nathan set off together in a borrowed boat. Nathan hopes to work in a gypo logging camp but the bulls (cops) are regularly on the lookout for deserters. As their despair increases Nathan and Leah hope to find some refuge on Broughton Island. Once again they are confronted with the isolation of their ideals when their friend on Broughton Island turns down their request to hide out because her son is off fighting in the Great War. Leah and Nathan are forced to head back to Silva Landing. Nathan is resigned to going overseas until a note arrives from an old friend who asks if he would consider going into hiding in a deserters' encampment on the mountain above Silva's Landing. Poole provides the novel with a powerful and necessary twist at the end, based on an actual incident at a real deserters' camp on the Sunshine Coast.
The characters for Poole's necessary novel are inspired by those deserters who lie buried in an actual deserters' cemetery, now mostly overtaken by forest, located on a Sunshine Coast mountain. As Poole writes in his notes, although descendants of those conscientious objectors still live in "Silva Landing,"; so enduring is the stigma of desertion in World War I that their lips remain mostly sealed to this day about the events of 1918. In attempting to give voice to their silence Poole has provided us with much to think about when considering the overseas conflicts of today. Rain by Morning is a welcome novel of ideas that only occasionally trips up on its exploration of various themes in the guise of characters. 1-55017-412-6
[BCBW 2006]
Set in the fictional town of Silva Landing on the Sunshine Coast in 1913, Rain by Morning tells the tale of a dangerous liaison between young Nathan and Leah, as their love at first sight endures against unlikely odds, parents' wishes, war and distance.
War is hell but its nothing compared to lovers spurned, or at least delayed. Leah is shipped off to a convent school while Nathan considers going to university. Poole develops Leah's voice-one of the novel's great strengths-while she is in the convent. In a letter Leah writes to Nathan we get a glimpse of her character and future:
"I don't believe I take uncharitable dislikes to people, but I cannot help feeling anger and resentment toward Sister Robuchaud, the Mistress of Discipline. I believe she takes pleasure in punishing us. She plays favourites, and I am certainly not one of them. She told me that I have a "rebellious and independent nature"; which she intends to break. If she keeps riding me, there will be trouble and I won't stand for it.";
Poole is particularly interested in the role of individuals in the service of institutions and country, and the ethical and moral decisions one is faced with in serving those forces. In his previous book, Romancing Mary Jane: A Year in the Life of a Failed Marijuana Grower, Poole explored the ethics and perils of growing pot on the Sunshine Coast.
As Poole mentions in his author's notes no shortage of books have been written about World War 1, but what has gone missing in action are accounts of Canadian nurses. Fair enough, but it is worth noting that Ernest Hemingway's classic A Farewell to Arms set in World War I is the great love affair of a nurse (granted not Canadian) and a wounded soldier.
Once out of the convent Leah and Nathan enjoy a brief idyllic fling among the hidden estuaries and islands of the West Coast before returning to Silva Landing to face their uncertain future. Leah is shipped off to a nursing school. When World War I breaks out, she is sent to a hospital near Etaples, France. Nathan, a conscientious objector, takes on the dangerous work of a high rigger in a logging camp.
In France Leah experiences the horrors of war first-hand and only occasionally hears from Nathan. Her faith tested, Leah reaches out to a young British deserter she discovers while out on a bike ride and she chooses to feed him. Her actions lead to her eventual banishment from the military and nursing, but not without a fight. When she returns to Nathan, who has been injured in a logging accident, she is more determined than ever that he not go off to fight in a war she has witnessed.
Alienated by his community for remaining behind while others serve, Nathan is angrily confronted by townsfolk he has known all his life. In an exchange with Leah he indicates that his will has begun to weaken: "Look, Leah I'm just so goddamed tired of it all, sick to death of nasty looks, the remarks, having to explain myself, all that crap.";
She replies: "As chance would have it, I know exactly how you feel. You see, Nathan, I didn't leave France voluntarily. I was thrown out for breaking the rules. I was an outcast, pointed at, scorned, just like you.";
United as outcasts, Leah and Nathan set off together in a borrowed boat. Nathan hopes to work in a gypo logging camp but the bulls (cops) are regularly on the lookout for deserters. As their despair increases Nathan and Leah hope to find some refuge on Broughton Island. Once again they are confronted with the isolation of their ideals when their friend on Broughton Island turns down their request to hide out because her son is off fighting in the Great War. Leah and Nathan are forced to head back to Silva Landing. Nathan is resigned to going overseas until a note arrives from an old friend who asks if he would consider going into hiding in a deserters' encampment on the mountain above Silva's Landing. Poole provides the novel with a powerful and necessary twist at the end, based on an actual incident at a real deserters' camp on the Sunshine Coast.
The characters for Poole's necessary novel are inspired by those deserters who lie buried in an actual deserters' cemetery, now mostly overtaken by forest, located on a Sunshine Coast mountain. As Poole writes in his notes, although descendants of those conscientious objectors still live in "Silva Landing,"; so enduring is the stigma of desertion in World War I that their lips remain mostly sealed to this day about the events of 1918. In attempting to give voice to their silence Poole has provided us with much to think about when considering the overseas conflicts of today. Rain by Morning is a welcome novel of ideas that only occasionally trips up on its exploration of various themes in the guise of characters. 1-55017-412-6
[BCBW 2006]
Submitted on September 14, 2006 in By David.
