Dry Water: A Novel of Western Canada

Jere D. Turner is Adult Collections Co-ordinator at the Regina Public
Library in Saskatchewan.

It is the winter of 1890 and Donald Strand, 10 years old and orphaned, is travelling by train from Winnipeg to Alder Creek, Manitoba. In Alder Creek he will live with his new family — his uncle Jim Strand, auntie Annie, and his cousins Ellen, Lizzie, and Tom. Donald is immediately accepted as a member of the family and soon becomes a part of this farming community. At age 21 Donald is made aware that he has an inheritance of more than $5000, and loving the life of a farmer, he buys a farm of his own. Time passes and we next see Donald at age 49, a wealthy farmer, married with two children.

This is a major turning point in the story. Donald’s marriage has not turned out well; his oldest son and daughter are too independent for his liking, and he is plagued with self doubts. On top of all of this he discovers that an old school chum, Jimmie Wayne, is at least ten times richer. While visiting Jimmie in Winnipeg Donald is convinced by him to invest in the stock market. Donald plunges into the stock market and takes a substantial loss in the 1929 crash. The story ends with Jimmie committing suicide, his wife Ellen moving back to Alder Creek, and Donald back farming with horses instead of a tractor, and loving every minute of it.

Dry Water has a number of problems. Two of these are the unexplained change in Donald’s character and abrupt transitions in time. Donald, a young man with no problems other than his almost overpowering love for his cousin Ellen, is suddenly changed from a happy-go-lucky farm boy into a shrewd business man; in two paragraphs! In chapter 4, part 2, they are socially better than someone “... who wrung their living from the land.” He promises himself that in 10 years no one will get the better of him.

The jarring transitions in time occur between the three major parts of the novels. In part one Donald has barely arrived at the farm. At the start of part two, Donald is a man of 21, and almost nothing is said about his life between the ages of 10 and 21. Just as unexplained are the years between 21 and 49, Donald’s age when part three begins.

Two-dimensional characterization is another major problem in the novel, and this includes all the characters, even Donald. They are all stock characters who seldom come to life. A rare exception is Mrs. Farquhar, who momentarily rebels against supposedly moral but materially grasping and greedy people she has met in the world — people exactly like Donald.

Dry Water is lacking in many respects. Its one strong point is the description of the Western Canadian landscape, a description that is correct and believable.