I asked to review 'The Ring' because I was intrigued - as I think others may be - by the idea of a pioneer love story. I was doubly intrigued because obviously a Métis grandmother was going to be central to the story. I could remember from schooldays that while Métis had been considered excellent guides, hunters, and trappers they had also been maligned as half-breeds, but as Cousin Walter points out, they should be called double-breeds, because they combine two cultures. In any case, I was sure this book would tell me far more than I ever learned in school. And I was not mistaken.
The Ring focuses on one family, that of Sam and Jane Livingston, tracing their ancestry back to the beginning days of the two major companies who vied for the fur trade in Canada - the Company of Adventurers of England (The Hudson's Bay Company) and the North West Company. And because it is told in the first person - by Jane's grandson - there is a wonderful immediacy, even though we are hearing about people who lived in the nineteenth century.
One of the most intriguing things about 'The Ring' is the way the author manages to inject so much information about that time without seeming to. Like the very best teachers, she weaves facts into the story in such a smooth fashion that you barely realize you are getting a first-class history and geography lesson. We learn the realities of day-to-day living then - and survival. Maps of Sam and Jane's travels, as well as a selection of photographs and pen-and-ink drawings showing facets of the traders' lifestyle are included.
Although this is the exceptional story of two bold-spirited people who fell in love, the focus is always on Grandmother Jane. Right away, we meet her sitting 'stiffly in the high-backed chair' - a wonderful depiction of a woman who after all, lived in the Victorian age and seems to bring that age's posture into Canada's hinterland. A photograph of Grandmother Jane bears out this image.
But that is only one image: Grandmother Jane could also ride, hunt and paddle a canoe; she knew very well how to survive in the bush as well as doing all the housekeeping, cooking and sewing expected of her. No wonder The Ring is dedicated to all mothers and grandmothers!
We often hear about an earlier time 'being lost' to us. This book ensures it won't be.

Patricia Brooke's most recent short story collection is Traveling Hopefully.

Posted by Writers' Choice Reviews