Broken Voices

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

Lill Spencer is a mature woman, divorced with two grown sons, living a
pretty normal life as a teacher in a small Newfoundland town near St.
John’s. There she meets Rod Corcoran, almost 10 years her junior, and
falls in love. If that seems similar to the plot of a Harlequin Romance,
in many ways it is. What lifts it sometimes beyond the cliché, however,
are the frequent flashbacks to childhood experiences (by far the better
writing in the novel), which lay a foundation for the many tensions,
local hostilities, and common gossip that threaten to destroy the
happiness of their relationship.

Toward the end, in fact, the whole turns a little sinister, when the
recalled scenes of savage incest rape finally lead the story to its
sort-of-happy conclusion. The recalled moments of childhood, when the
seeds of grief are sown, are the most vivid, poignant, and original
moments of the novel. The action of the present seems insipid and
predictable by comparison, a little too stale in terms of the family
relationships, community morals, and sexual politics. But, in spite of
the fact that the writing seems to vary between times and the voices
become a little confused, Fitzpatrick has written a commendable first
novel.