The Valley.

Shelbey Krahn is a teacher-librarian and manages the School of Education's Curriculum Resource Centre at Laurentian University.

The Valley is Gayle Friesen’s first novel for adults. Her skills at writing young adult novels come into play in her deft portrayal of the novel’s present and past adolescents, but the novel never feels like it was written for young adults; rather, the first person protagonist, a depressed middle-aged woman named Gloria, with entrenched fears and regrets, keeps the novel firmly grounded in grown-up themes. The themes of depression, betrayal, death, faith, friendship, and family are wrestled with earnestly, yet they are laced with the humour of absurdity.

The storyline is very familiar: the alienated protagonist returns after a long absence. We expect that protagonist to be surprised at changes in the people and surroundings and to gain new understanding about others and herself. The plotline may be very familiar, but Friesen deftly keeps the reader guessing and intrigued by the yet unanswered questions.

Gloria’s mental illness is well described: in the beginning, the reader is told of sudden-onset migraines which begin by the narrator losing parts of her vision. Imagine the terror of the car in front of you suddenly being replaced by a black hole in your vision. The holes in Gloria’s vision are likely symbolic of the holes in her psyche, the parts of herself that she denies or will not face.

As the reader wades with Gloria through the literal faith of her adolescence, simultaneously orthodox and challenging, certain and doubtful, seen through the lens of her present unstable agnosticism, one is impressed with how well Friesen stays away from tired religious arguments. The discussion of faith feels fresh and honest—no one beats up a straw man or resorts to clichés.

The novel is very thoughtful, yet entertaining, very dramatic, yet funny. Since everyone has had to wrestle, at least to some extent, with depression, betrayal, death, faith, friendship, and family, everyone can benefit from the therapeutic laughter and tears of The Valley.