A Review By Zoe Boulton

I decided to read this debut novel by Canadian author Gil Adamson for two reasons. Firstly, I liked the coldness of the cover, and secondly and more frivolously, when I looked at the back cover I saw that the protagonist, Mary Boulton, shares the same surname as me, so that sealed it.

The novel begins with Mary Boulton “widowed by her own hand” on a frantic escape across Western Canada from her brothers-in-law; the menacing, red-headed, identical twins, shouldering their rifles and hell bent on vengeance. Along the way, Mary, pitifully ill-equipped to survive in the brutal wilderness, finds salvation in another outsider- called the Ridgerunner- who has been living in the wilds, shunning all human contact for over a decade.

This was a peculiar book. The first third was so slow; there were pages and pages of Mary wandering through the vividly described, lonely landscape, in a feverish haze, reflecting on her unhappy life so far. Whilst this was beautiful in a way, it was also exhausting, I felt as if I were doing the walking with her. However, the last third galloped by. I couldn’t decide what the novel was trying to be, it’s not a crime novel, although there is most certainly a crime, it’s not exactly a romance although there is romance, it’s quite like a western as there are guns, Indians, a troubled hero, many colourful misfits and a pursuit, but can a Canadian novel be a Western? It’s an historical novel too given that it depicts actual events such as the terrifying landslide in the town of Frank in 1903.

For all of this it’s not a disjointed read, the language flows very well. Although the slow beginning frustrated me, the rest of the book more than made up for it. The only other gripe I have is the ending was a letdown. I thought it was going to be brave and go one way, but it went the other. However, I am willing to forgive it as the journey leading to the end was so riveting. It has definitely made me want to read more Canadian novels; the depictions of the vast landscapes were very haunting.