The Word for Home
Description
$22.99
ISBN 0-670-91121-6
DDC jC813'.54
Author
Publisher
Year
Contributor
Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T
Review
This deeply moving story, which is set in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in
1926, covers two years in the lives of two semi-orphaned girls,
14-year-old Sadie and her 8-year-old sister Flora, who have been left in
a boardinghouse while their recently widowed father, a mining geologist,
prospects for gold in the interior of Newfoundland.
The focus is on Sadie’s experience and feelings. When she attempts to
“mother” her little sister, difficulties abound. A budding
friendship with 16-year-old Teddy is also challenging. But more
challenging is having to deal with their mean landlady. Though she’s
getting paid, “Sour Olive,” as they secretly call her, makes the
girls work for their meals. When letters and money stop coming from
father, Sadie and Flora fear he is dead. Then their landlady threatens
to put them in an orphanage. Sadie must use all her resourcefulness to
come up with a way to save her family. In the climactic ending, their
father, having narrowly escaped starvation and death in the barren
interior of Newfoundland, returns.
This sensitive and exciting novel offers no easy solutions. Its
toughness, and the emotional rollercoaster Sarah experiences, should
attract and hold readers. The author’s attention to historically
accurate details and her realistic characters give the book real
authenticity.