About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

BURDEN OF MEMORY
by Vicki Delany
Poisoned Pen Press, June 2006
236 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 1590582667


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Recently divorced novelist Elaine Benson is hired by Moira Madison, who was a nursing sister in the Canadian Army during World War II, to ghost-write her memoirs. Elaine has written other biographies of Canadian pioneer women and had actually been Miss Madison's first choice for biographer, but she had chosen another woman, who inexplicably drowned during her first week on the job.

Benson drives to the Madison cottage on Lake Muskoka, where she finally meets the frail Moira Madison and her housekeeper, Ruth. Ruth is very protective of Moira and resents Elaine's addition to the group which consists of Miss Madison, Ruth, Lizzie the cook and Alan the gardener/handyman, along with the German shepherds, Hamlet and Ophelia, who are extremely protective of Moira.

Elaine Benson needs this job. She married a screenwriter and subsumed her career into his, leaving her nearly destitute when he left her for another woman, one who he thought could further his career. Taking this job in the North is her way to try to get back into writing.

She and Miss Madison get along well. Mornings, when she feels well enough, Moira tells Elaine stories of her days during World War II, and the rest of the time, Elaine delves into the mass of papers accumulated at the cottage over the years, which are housed in a separate structure.

At Thanksgiving (in October in Canada) the rest of the family comes to stay for a while. Moira's sisters, their husbands and children are a motley crew. And when a fire starts in the building housing the archives, Elaine begins to worry.

Delany seamlessly integrates the parallel narrative of today and the wartime period. She also integrates the old lifestyle of the wealthy Ontarioites and their summer 'cottages' with today's necessities. The characters are interesting and alive. This is a very good second novel. Her first, SCARE THE LIGHT AWAY, was excellent also. Kudos to Poisoned Pen Press for bringing this fine Canadian novelist to a bigger audience.

Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, May 2006

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]