Away

"The women of this family leaned towards extremes [...] They were plagued by revenants. There was always water involved, exaggerated youth or exaggerated age. Afterwards there was absence..." Esther O'Malley Robertson, now in her eighties, and by her own admission "the last and most subdued" of these extreme women tells the family's story one last time "to herself and the Great Lake, there being no one to listen." The story, she muses, "will take her wherever it wants to go in the next twelve hours, and that is all that matters." And what a story it is! Like her protagonist, Jane Urquhart "paints a landscape in her mind", so rich in colours and shades, and so full of life - real and imagined, large as the ocean, minuscule as a tide pool - and so intimate in the depiction of its human inhabitants with their deep connection to the land and the waters that sustain them. Spanning some one hundred and forty years, Urquhart creates a intricate multigenerational portrait of a family, starting out on the island of Rathlin, at the most northern coast of Ireland and leaving with Esther at Loughbreeze Beach on the shores of Lake Ontario. Mary, Esther's great-grandmother, stands tall at the beginning of the story, but, overwhelmed by what she experiences one early morning on the beach, changes into somebody that the locals refer to as being "away" - living in an otherworldly reality. She eventually returns to "normal life" thanks to the dedicated gentle care of Brian, her new husband. Urquhart's subtle and sensitive description of the young couple's evolving relationship, set against the increasingly precarious circumstances of the farming communities around them, pulls the reader right into their reality and creates an intimate empathy that only grows as the story unfolds. The contrast between the poverty stricken tenant farmers and their English landlords is stark, yet, even when portraying the latter, the author is perceptive to their limited efforts to help those dependent on them for their survival. Urquhart touches on major historical events over the novel's time span. With heart wrenching intensity she describes the impact of the Irish potato famine, the subsequent wave of Irish immigration to then "Upper Canada", and the challenges faced by the early settlers and would-be farmers in the harsh landscape of the Canadian Shield. The struggle of the Irish immigrants goes beyond their claiming and cultivating the land and the political realities compete with the domestic; Urquhart interweaves the two component with great skill and balance. Yet, her central force are always the individuals, vividly portrayed, and their attachment, and often fascination, with the landscape they find themselves in. For Mary this deep connection is with the sea; her need for touching it will eventually dictate the rest of her life. For her children, Liam and Eileen, and all those who follow in this family tapestry, Urquhart's poetic and beautifully flowing language c

'Away' is an excellent book. The story is about a family's life and what happened to them. It seems as though each generation faces big adjustments and obstacles they must cross and/or overcome. The book is very complicated, but very intense, too. I would recommend this book to any of my friends or realtaives or to anybody.

I discovered this beautiful book whilst on holday in Canada, and became entranced with the world of Celtic/Canadian literature.Jane Urquart's writing transported me into the depths of Irish-Canadian femininity with a powerful sense of tragedy, beauty and imagination. I could not put this book down, and when I finished it I felt as though I had travelled decades and miles beyond the 20th Century world of modern-day London.Her capacity to relate the magnificence of 2 of the most beautiful places on earth is truly impressive, as is her ability to weave together history and mythology.I would recommend this book to any other dreamer who can allow themselves to be transported into the other world.

A single sentence in this book encompasses the highest of art and spirit that the muse of writing holds out before all writers. Many produce volumes over a lifetime and never achieve the beauty, elegance and balance of Urguhart's writing. It may be a tale but it is the writing, the exquisite telling of the tale that matters here. This is a treasure.

Extending backwards and forwards in time a hundred and forty years, Away, a novel by Canadian writer Jane Urquhart, begins with one of the female characters discovering the shoreline near her Irish home has been changed forever. Stones resembling new potatoes have replaced the sandy beach, a grim joke in this impoverished area. Then "thousands of cabbages nudged one another towards shore," followed by many silver teapots and barrels of whiskey, a semi-conscious young man the final offering. Thus begins this amazing tale, weaving together the lives of four generations of women, Ireland and and Canada, past and present, land and sea. Water becomes a character in itself, each of these women drawn to it like lemmings, lives unfolding near a stream that ebbs and flows with the seasons, a Great Lake, and the Atlantic Ocean. For readers who appreciate lyrical writing, a compelling story, and subtly evoked magic realism, this book is for you