The Whirlpool

Ingrid conHausen was a librarian in New Hamburg, Ontario.

This eerie tale of warped psyches will appeal to readers of serious literature. Urquhart succeeds in creating an atmosphere of tension and repressed sensibilities in an historical setting of Niagara Falls in the late l890s. Her well-developed characters include a disturbed young boy, a poet, a military historian-soldier, his wife, and the undertaker’s widow. Central to the internal agonies of these characters is the whirlpool, dark symbol of their lack of control:

… while the rest moved towards the lower rapids and eventually into the whirlpool. Left to the mercy of this kind of chance, the human remains ended their journey in either the former or the latter location, though, if the trip had been particularly rough, they might end up in both. (p. 161)

For the reader the trip, although the narrative is tightly controlled, is also rough. A few questions remain unanswered. The whole is neatly encased in a vivid account of Robert Browning’s last days.

Urquhart is a powerful writer. This reviewer looks forward to more from this promising young writer.

The cover painting by John Trumbull is wholly in keeping with the atmosphere of this novel.