Angel Falls

June M. Blurton is a retired speech/language pathologist.

As this first novel by Tim Wynveen opens, Ben, a successful
Toronto-based studio musician, retires to the Northern Ontario woods to
a house built by his grandfather years earlier. His family’s story,
which is told from two perspectives—Ben at 12 and Ben at 40—centres
on such varied and well-drawn characters as Ben’s father, who fought
in World War II and who is depressed to the point of being nearly
speechless; his mother, who shares with her father and brother an awful
secret that eventually ruins her life; his Dutch grandparents; his
French-Canadian grandfather, a magician, union organizer, and politician
who once used his crystal ball to locate the body of a murdered
teenager; and his only childhood friend, an archeology student who
becomes an arsonist.

The story twists and turns, but never loses the reader. There are vivid
descriptions of small-town life and the music scene in 1960s Toronto.
Some of the imagery is wonderful: huge pike cruising the river are
likened to “mobsters in dark sedans.” Notwithstanding its somewhat
labored resolution, Angel Falls is an engrossing tale.