The Shadow Side of Grace

Linda M. Bayley is a freelance writer based in Sudbury, Ontario. She is
the author of Estrangement: Poems.

Michelle Butler Hallett understands voice. With just a few lines, she
can send you straight to Newfoundland, or Russia, or even to the 19th
century. When her characters speak, you could swear they were standing
right beside you, whispering in your ear. “B’ys, which one of you
left the kettle on? It’s after boiling dry.” “I’ll be raising
you better than this.”

Hallett also understands the complexities of human nature. Most of the
characters in The Shadow Side of Grace are flawed, deeply so. Mental
patients, common thugs, and pedophiles are given equal space in these
pages to the ordinary people who are simply struggling to understand and
overcome the brutality of their own lives. All of them are facing
predation of one kind or another: rape, kidnapping, intimidation,
demons, cancer. And eventually, all of them find a kind of grace in the
face of the thing that is stalking them.

Although at times quite harsh, the book is a very good read, especially
the last two stories. “Obliged to Drink Bad Water” was astonishing
in its scope, spanning four different time periods—the 1830s, the
1930s, the 1950s, and the 1990s—and weaving together the stories of
the people living in each of those times. And the title story was
heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, giving us a glimpse of a
man facing his impending death not with rage, but with acceptance.
Hallett’s debut collection is not to be missed.