Angels Watch Do Keep

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Robert Gibbs, a prominent Fredericton professor emeritus of English, was
the poetry editor of The Fiddlehead, New Brunswick’s most important
literary magazine. He has also published poetry and short fiction,
introducing readers to Saint John orphan Hutchinson Killam in I’ve
Always Felt Sorry for Decimals. His latest book focuses on Hutch’s
Depression/wartime childhood, spent with his guardians, Aunt Edie and
Uncle Earlie, and his younger brother Pompey.

Gibbs—who, like Hutch, grew up in Saint John during that
period—uses his background to create credible fiction. In the first
story, “O, Think of the Home Over There,” the author recalls that
you could determine a man’s status, stance, and even religion by the
style of his cap. He cleverly bridges the gap between his Maritimers and
modern readers by pointing out that even back then, young boys wore
their baseball caps backward.

Characters are subtly described. Mr. Borshin, a Russian furrier who
appears in the title story, chides employee Hutch for alleged laziness.
After the Killam brothers foil a robbery of his fur store, Borshin
praises them, recalling Russian nieces and nephews “[m]urdered by
dem.” Hutch dares not ask who “dem” was, but his naiveté leads
readers to the truth—Borshin is a Jew who lost relatives in the
Holocaust. After this revelation, the bereaved uncle reverts to
demanding boss; realism and sentiment are seamlessly juxtaposed.

Angels Watch Do Keep combines a sentimental subject—Depression-era
orphans—with realistic observations, creating the thinking person’s
gift book.