The Lucky Ones

Nora D.S. Robins is co-ordinator of Internal Collections at the
University of Calgary Libraries.

Donald Purcell began teaching and writing following his graduation from McGill University in the 1940s. His work has been broadcast on the CBC and published in literary magazines. The Lucky Ones is Purcell’s first novel.

The story, set in rural Quebec in the late 1930s, follows farmer Paul Durand in his courtship of Lucille. Neither of them is young. Paul is a 50-year-old widower and Lucille is twice-married and nearing middle age. The story is simple, told with an economy of means and a simplicity of style. Events move slowly. What matters is the land and the family; the virtues that count are those preached by the Church.

Unfortunately, the book is flawed. The main problem is the characterization: the characters are wooden and fail to generate any interest on the part of the reader. It is all rather dull.