Stained Glass

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

In structure, this novel is like a piece of stained glass. While each
individual glass fragment (incident) may appear unremarkable, when the
pieces are carefully positioned by the artist (author), the final work
radiates beyond the sum of its parts.

With the exception of flashbacks, the action in Stained Glass occurs
from Friday to Sunday on a Victoria Day weekend in Caledon. If the
setting seems vaguely familiar, it is because Bedard used it in his
first novel, A Darker Magic (1987) and its sequel, Painted Devil (1994).
Charles Endicott, 14, the protagonist of Stained Glass, is the younger
brother of Emily Endicott who played a leading role in Bedard’s two
earlier books.

The plot centres on Charles’s interactions with Ambriel, a homeless
girl whom Charles met in St. Bartholomew’s Church after a panel from
an old stained glass window fell and shattered and injured her. Charles
finds himself compelled to assist Ambriel, who has seemingly lost all of
her memories but her name, in finding her way home. Church caretaker
George Berkley (the other principal character) attempts to reassemble
the window from its bits.

Readers who want realism can see Ambriel as just a disoriented street
person, while those who prefer fantasy will perceive her as the girl
from the stained glass window, who has been brought to life by its
breaking and who may be “reconfined” if Berkley’s reconstruction
is successful. The plot offers so much more, however, via the memories
of Charles and Berkley.

The novel is rich in its details and merits a second reading just to
appreciate that quality alone. In a world of nondemanding series books,
unfortunately Stained Glass will not likely find a mass readership, but
it must be purchased by all school/public libraries for those special
children who will recognize its beauty. Though Stained Glass has a
place/character connection to Bedard’s two earlier novels, it stands
as an independent read. Nonetheless, the three books come together to
create a larger, yet likely unfinished work. Highly recommended.