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Time’s Reach (Oolichan, 2004)
Rachel Wyatt recently said in an interview that she felt compelled to write Time's Reach (Oolichan $22.95) after finding an old photograph of her father. This photo-showing her father surrounded by dead bodies in an internment camp-becomes the mystery at the heart of a new novel about the pitfalls of unraveling the past.
Seeking refuge from her complicated life in Toronto, the principle character, Maggie Parkes, visits her elderly parents in England. At the outset, Maggie longs to retreat to her room and get back to reading her book, Iris Murdoch's An Accidental Man. It's a foreshadowing of the suspenseful and darkly comedic mood that will ensue.
The story gets underway as Robert Parkes' life is ending. His failing health leads him to confess a long-held secret to his daughter Maggie. Unbeknownst to his family, he had engaged in some clandestine work for the British government concerning the Second World War. They had always believed he was merely traveling across Europe selling wool. Maggie's father reveals just enough prior to his death for the family to believe he's led a romantically duplicitous life. His wife Frieda is crushed; Maggie and her brother David are curious but disinclined to uncover the truth.
After the funeral, Maggie returns to Canada with an envelope of photos and postcards her father has left for her. She becomes haunted by one particular photo, that image of a man in an internment camp surrounded by dead bodies. They wonder if he was a spy and conclude, at the very least, he must have been a civilian witness to the horrific aftermath of Nazi murders.
In Maggie's family there is a longing in every one of them to break out of their lives and become something more, something unexpected and surprising to the rest, something of a legacy. Frieda longs to escape her mundane old-age and live in the Swiss Alps, but shortly after her husband's death she dies while mountain climbing. David, an unemployed stock broker, takes up marathon running and then vanishes while following his father's trail to Germany. Be careful, as the Chinese say, you might get what you wish for.
Years later, Maggie's teenage daughter Bertie becomes obsessed with paying homage to her grandfather, encouraging the entire family to embark on a journey to Germany to find the truth. Maggie had pretty much given up on her life-long intention to return to Europe, but Bertie, named for her possibly courageous grandfather, wants to wake the rest of them out of the torpor their lives have become. She also hopes to acknowledge Robert was something of a hero.
Their collective trip to Germany is wrought with folly. No more should be said.
As a result of years as a prolific playwright, Wyatt has created characters that are well-sketched and perfectly true to life - quirky, vulnerable, and fallible. A former director at the Banff Centre for the Arts, she has written seven previous novels, short fiction, stage plays and over 100 radio dramas featured on CBC and BBC. In 2002, Wyatt, who lives in Victoria, was honoured for her contribution to the development of Canadian Literature when she was inducted into the Order of Canada. It should come as no surprise that her latest novel, Time's Reach, is a wonderfully crafted, engaging story; a joy to read.
--Carla Lucchetta
0-88982-205-0
Seeking refuge from her complicated life in Toronto, the principle character, Maggie Parkes, visits her elderly parents in England. At the outset, Maggie longs to retreat to her room and get back to reading her book, Iris Murdoch's An Accidental Man. It's a foreshadowing of the suspenseful and darkly comedic mood that will ensue.
The story gets underway as Robert Parkes' life is ending. His failing health leads him to confess a long-held secret to his daughter Maggie. Unbeknownst to his family, he had engaged in some clandestine work for the British government concerning the Second World War. They had always believed he was merely traveling across Europe selling wool. Maggie's father reveals just enough prior to his death for the family to believe he's led a romantically duplicitous life. His wife Frieda is crushed; Maggie and her brother David are curious but disinclined to uncover the truth.
After the funeral, Maggie returns to Canada with an envelope of photos and postcards her father has left for her. She becomes haunted by one particular photo, that image of a man in an internment camp surrounded by dead bodies. They wonder if he was a spy and conclude, at the very least, he must have been a civilian witness to the horrific aftermath of Nazi murders.
In Maggie's family there is a longing in every one of them to break out of their lives and become something more, something unexpected and surprising to the rest, something of a legacy. Frieda longs to escape her mundane old-age and live in the Swiss Alps, but shortly after her husband's death she dies while mountain climbing. David, an unemployed stock broker, takes up marathon running and then vanishes while following his father's trail to Germany. Be careful, as the Chinese say, you might get what you wish for.
Years later, Maggie's teenage daughter Bertie becomes obsessed with paying homage to her grandfather, encouraging the entire family to embark on a journey to Germany to find the truth. Maggie had pretty much given up on her life-long intention to return to Europe, but Bertie, named for her possibly courageous grandfather, wants to wake the rest of them out of the torpor their lives have become. She also hopes to acknowledge Robert was something of a hero.
Their collective trip to Germany is wrought with folly. No more should be said.
As a result of years as a prolific playwright, Wyatt has created characters that are well-sketched and perfectly true to life - quirky, vulnerable, and fallible. A former director at the Banff Centre for the Arts, she has written seven previous novels, short fiction, stage plays and over 100 radio dramas featured on CBC and BBC. In 2002, Wyatt, who lives in Victoria, was honoured for her contribution to the development of Canadian Literature when she was inducted into the Order of Canada. It should come as no surprise that her latest novel, Time's Reach, is a wonderfully crafted, engaging story; a joy to read.
--Carla Lucchetta
0-88982-205-0
Submitted on May 19, 2004 in By David.
