Away

3.5 stars.

This is an intriguing, well-written historical novel. My knowledge of Canadian history is practically nil, so I wasn't even aware that there were so many Irish potato famine victims in Canada struggling for survival during the time of the US Civil War (It turns out, history happened elsewhere, too).

The title takes on a double meaning. As Urquhart's story opens, we meet Mary, a very young woman living on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, who has the traumatizing experience of pulling a shipwrecked man out of the ocean, only to have him die in her arms. After this, she is never the same. Her fellow islanders superstitiously refer to her as "away," and believe she has been influenced by an evil spirit. Mary does feel an attachment to this man she pulled out of the sea, for the rest of her life.

Eventually, however, Mary does become wedded to a local school master and they start a family. She tends to be distant, but manages to lead a normal life for awhile. Later, when it becomes obvious that they will starve to death, their local landlord, who is rather taken with Mary, helps them escape to Canada. By the way, there are two landlords, the Sedgewick brothers, who are colorfully drawn characters.

The story of their journey to America, and their separation and quarantine when they arrive, is glossed over. I felt that the novel would have been more powerful with that part of the story told, especially from their young son's perspective.

After they've established a home, barely making a living, Mary suddenly disappears. This is the most heartbreaking part. Liam, just seven years old, wakes up alone with a baby sister who needs to be fed and changed and a cow that needs to be milked. Brian, his father, is away from home for a couple days doing the only work he can find, so it's on Liam to become a little man.

There was a phrase their father repeated, which translated into "the trace of a man on a woman," which resonates throughout the book, first with Mary's story, then Eileen's.

Liam and Eileen seem like real characters, I cared about them, and they urged me to keep turning the pages, especially when Eileen's story becomes dramatic.

I apologize if this review seems disjointed...there are little mysteries that unfold along the way that I shouldn't touch, and both Irish and Native American folklore and spiritualism effect both Mary and Eileen.

This tale is told in flashback, and we are briefly introduced to four generations of women--Mary, Eileen, Deirdre, and Esther--but the latter two are not developed at all, and I felt there were parts of this story that seemed either left out or too vague. However, it is a riveting read, and I would certainly recommend it.