Kick the Can

Kelly L. Green is a freelance writer living in Ajax, Ontario.

Rowan Hanson, the protagonist of Cameron’s latest novel, is one of
those memorable literary creations that will live forever in readers’
minds. She is seemingly marked for unhappiness from the beginning when
her runaway, delinquent mother dies in childbirth. At the age of three,
she is snatched from the village that has been her only home. Her
transformation from a sad, lost little girl, bounced from foster home to
foster home, into a proud, independent woman who can take responsibility
for herself and for others is a wonder to read. Her story invigorates
and inspires; it renews the reader’s faith in the good that exists
inviolable in human beings.

Rowan receives help along the way in the unlikely guise of her maternal
grandmother, Mary Milligan, a self-proclaimed Floatcamp floozie who
hadn’t done much of a job raising Rowan’s mother. Falling in love
with Rowan, Mary changes her life and vows to do a better job with her
second “kick at the can.” Mary gives Rowan love and teaches her the
meaning of independence, even if it’s gained cooking 12 hours a day
for a bunch of loggers.

Cameron intensifies the wild and beautiful story of Rowan’s life with
her B.C. setting and her descriptions of the harsh magnificence of the
B.C. coast. Those who have ever lived in British Columbia will find
themselves longing to be there again, and those who haven’t seen it,
will put it on their list of places to go before they die.

Cameron’s book is a delight for those who seek stories of strong
women, successful at the substantive business of life and capable of
fulfilling their destinies alone or with companions of their own
choosing. Rowan Hanson isn’t perfect, but she moves beyond her
mistakes in judgment, growing, and taking from them her own meanings.