Honour Thy Mother

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British
Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and the
Public, and the editor of “Improved by Cultiv

“Francine stepped off the boat onto the community wharf at exactly
10:00 a.m. on November 12th, 1951. She would have felt better had she
known that her pursuers were convinced that she was somewhere else.
Nevertheless, she felt sure she had made a successful escape.” So
begins this rather unremarkable, tedious novel about Francine Matte,
who, with her young son, Michel, seek to escape the brutality of a
former life by moving to a remote Newfoundland outport. Of course they
fall in love with the rugged land and its rugged people; of course the
past catches up with them; and of course it all ends happily ever after.
There is not much more to say. The plot is rather predictable; the story
too drawn-out; the writing quite pedestrian; and the whole fairly
boring.