The Ghost of Soda Creek

Dave Jenkinson is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education at the
University of Manitoba.

Walsh’s third novel revisits two elements from her first book, Your
Time, My Time; but here, to ghosts and romance, Walsh adds the binding
dimension of unresolved grief. Late one December evening in the tiny
community of Soda Creek, B.C., Kelly Linden, age 16, sees what appears
to be the ghost of a two-year-old female child. The phantom’s quaint
apparel leads Kelly to conclude the ghost is not that of a contemporary
child. Within days, the ghost has been seen in various locations by Soda
Creek’s dozen or so inhabitants, whose initial reactions of disbelief
or fear are transformed into concern by the little apparation’s sad
demeanor. When the ghost speaks to Kelly—saying, “Emily home.
Please?”—the community realizes that the tiny spirit does not want
to remain on Earth but wishes to be set free. Because Kelly has come to
identify with Emily’s loneliness (a feeling the outwardly steely Kelly
has experienced since her mother’s accidental death some three years
previously), she has mixed emotions about “releasing” Emily. Kelly
also dreads another imminent loss: her recently acquired boyfriend,
David, plans to return to Vancouver. Prior to Emily’s appearance,
gossip and suspicions had divided Soda Creek’s inhabitants, but
Emily’s “need” unites them in working together to discover
Emily’s connection to Soda Creek’s history. During the gold rush in
the 1870s, Soda Creek had thrived as an important staging point at which
would-be miners left the Cariboo Road to transfer to Fraser River
steamboats. The community learns that Emily fell from a steamer and
drowned; her mother died in a rescue attempt and her grief-stricken
father committed suicide. Though the parents’ remains were buried,
Emily’s body was never recovered; consequently no “farewell” had
been given her. To release Emily’s spirit, on December 21 (the winter
solstice and coincidentally the third anniversary of Kelly’s
mother’s death), the people of Soda Creek gather to say their
individual goodbyes to Emily. Middle-school readers’ initial
engagement with The Ghost of Soda Creek’s “spookiness” will be
replaced by their involvement in the quest for Emily’s identity.
Finally, they will be moved by the book’s ending.