The Corner Garden

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

Written as a compilation of first-person narratives, this novel tells
its story largely from the perspectives of a 15-year-old girl and her
elderly neighbour. Jessie has just moved into the neighbourhood with her
mother and new stepfather after a turbulent, unsettled life. She knows
no one and is left to her own devices, especially after she finds a way
to avoid going to school. Her Dutch neighbour seems to represent
stability, Old World values, and orderliness, and Jessie comes to view
her as a mentor.

For the old lady, Jessie represents a person of intelligence she can
mould and shape. A symbiotic relationship is established between them.
Events are described by both protagonists, affording the reader a window
into their separate perspectives. Rather than being on the same
wavelength, it turns out that these two women have widely divergent
attitudes and beliefs and are completely wrong in their assessments of
each other.

First-person narrative is used throughout (with a third voice sometimes
coming in as counterpoint and another point of view). Jessie’s voice
also finds expression through the medium of diary entries, and the old
lady’s through letters. One of the strengths of this novel is the
faultless idiom; the author has absolutely nailed the colloquialisms and
figures of speech of an intelligent young woman who is striving to
develop her vocabulary. (There is consistent misuse of the word
”exacerbate” that touchingly highlights Jessie’s complaint that it
is difficult to self-educate in a vacuum.) The formal, grammatically
correct sentences of the old lady provide a vivid contrast and also ring
with verisimilitude.

This complex novel is an in-depth polemic on family life (particularly
modern blended family dynamics), a coming-of-age story, a commentary on
World War II, and an “all is not as it appears” revelatory
cautionary tale. The stripping away of artifice until the truth is
starkly revealed is especially well done. The supporting characters are
credible and compelling.

Atmosphere is authentic: you can almost feel the weather, and you
absolutely know when you are in an east-end Toronto neighbourhood or a
small town in Northern Ontario.