Displaced Persons

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Abbotsford, B.C.

Her children away at university, her Globe and Mail job as a columnist
terminated, and her marriage on shaky footing, Alex Cooper is feeling
“displaced” and disconnected. She decides to escape Vancouver for
her hometown, Thunder Bay. Accompanied by her faithful dog, Jake, she
rents a cottage on the shores of Lake Superior, 40 miles from town.

Alex plans to write about an old friend, Tina, “who died out at the
lake twenty years ago.” The death was ruled a suicide, although Alex
doubts that a woman as vain as Tina would have obliterated her face with
a shotgun blast. Alex interviews people who knew Tina and her shady
boyfriend, including an elderly neighbour who remembers that Tina “was
in a bad way the week before she died.” Alex also meets Joan, who
wonders why she wants to write about a woman who was “hooked on
speed” and “ripped people off and slept with all the wrong men.”
The interviews fail to reveal whether Tina committed suicide or was
murdered, but her self-destructive choices and risky lifestyle obviously
contributed to her demise.

During her Thunder Bay hiatus, Alex renews old friendships, makes new
ones, accepts her dog’s terminal cancer, and finally agrees to return
home and try to “sort things out” with her husband. As she moves
between remembering parts of her past and coping with her uncertain
present, the tone of the smooth prose is autobiographical and
contemplative. Skilful descriptive passages paint vivid images of the
rugged terrain around Lake Superior. Taylor adeptly demonstrates the
literary abilities honed in her years as a CBC host and producer,
newspaper freelancer, and author of three books, including the
award-winning Some of Skippy’s Blues.