In James Heneghan's Flood (Groundwood $12.95), eleven-year-old Andy Flynn loses both his mother and stepfather to a West Coast flash flood. His stern aunt arrives in her grey overcoat and the "smell of fog and mothballs"; to shuttle him across the country to live with her. During the long flight she reveals that Andy's father, far from being a war hero killed in battle, is very much alive. He's "a waster and a thief"; and "a gambler and a drunk"; she says. Nonetheless, the moment they set foot in Halifax, Andy runs away, intent on finding his father.
Vincent Flynn, his father, turns out to be a fine storyteller-but also a man who is much as Andy's Aunt Mona has described him. The heady freedom of life that Andy discovers at the seedy Mayo Rooms begins to sour. Andy nags his father to clean up the cockroaches and get a proper job, not one that involves selling stolen cigarettes and whiskey. And he wants a toothbrush. And a winter jacket, some boxes to keep his things in, cushions for the sofa. And a dog. And to go to school. In other words, he wants the home and care that his "severe, grim, starchy"; Aunt Mona can provide. The Sheehogue (rhymes with rogue) or Little People, who've been watching over Andy since the night of the flood, lend a faerie hand, and by the new year much is resolved. But life is never a smooth ride.
Shortly afterwards, an Air Canada flight from Halifax to Vancouver experiences a number of unusual incidents: Teapots act up, hockey pucks skate down the aisle and the in-flight movie is in a strange language that a scholarly passenger swears is ancient Celtic. 0-88899-466-4
Review by Louise Donnelly [BCBW AUTUMN 2002]