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Meg Harris is a prickly character on whom to base a series. She's a girl with a dog, a drinking problem and an inherited estate in the wilds of West Quebec. Fleeing a painfully shattered marriage, she retreats to her great-grandfather's estate in the hope of healing her frayed emotions. She's just begun to make progress when she becomes embroiled in a land dispute over rights to an island, which may or may not be home to substantial deposits of gold. Her ally in the fight for the sanctity of the island, and one of her few friends, is Eric Odjik, the chief of the neighboring band of Algonquin Indians. Eric sees the potential for environmental degradation that a large-scale gold mining operation brings with it, but many members of his band are dazzled by the lure of quick money and jobs. The resulting tension threatens to split the band, and might even jeopardize Eric's position of leadership. By a very large coincidence, Meg's ex-husband Gareth shows up on her doorstep, ostensibly to give her a painting that she had wished for but had not been part of her share of the divorce settlement. It quickly becomes clear that Gareth is not there to see Meg at all, but rather is the attorney for the mining company. He's trying to betray Meg one more time by conspiring to ruin her idyllic hide-away. Things turn ugly quickly. Meg visits the island, and she is nearly killed when an old growth pine suddenly topples over near where she is standing on a secluded beach. Then her friend and household helper Marie goes missing and Marie's husband is found dead. The story progresses predictably enough to a satisfying conclusion. But in order to enjoy the book the reader must swallow a couple of pretty large assumptions. The first is that Meg's ex-husband, out of all the lawyers in Canada, would be the attorney hired by the mining corporation. The second is that in the world of this book there are apparently no restraining orders available to halt the mine's operations until the clear title to the land can be established. This is also a world in which title documents can be easily stolen from government offices where escrow agents view original papers. Do they not have microfilm in Quebec? Don't government officials prosecute obstruction of justice and destruction of government property? These and a few other points were bewildering to me, but to a more forgiving reader these logic lapses may pose less a problem. The strength of the book, and the strongest reason to read it, is the subplot that is beautifully woven into the fabric of the novel. As the mining dispute unfolds, Meg discovers secrets about her own family that provide a perfect echo and enrich the main story without overshadowing it. When Harlick describes her locale she invokes the majestic natural beauty of the countryside in the rich strokes of someone who knows and loves this land deeply. Her glorious descriptions of golden autumn will leave you searching for your travel agent's phone number. This is a flawed but promising first effort by Harlick. It's clear she's got strong convictions and a wonderful eye for detail, and I will look forward to reading future books in the series.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, April 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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