Spring Rain

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Marianne’s discovery of a letter written by her grandfather (a sea
captain) brings her to the tiny community of Squally Bay on Vancouver
Island’s western raincoast, and to the house of Grandma Em. Prompted
by the old woman’s memories and stories, Marianne delves deeply into
her own past; her discoveries about herself and about ancestors’
histories are the subject of this novel.

At the heart is the story of Kahammis of the Nootseetaht (one of the
many Native settlements that lined the west coast of Vancouver Island
more than a century ago), the granddaughter of Paquacheenish, the most
powerful chief on the coast. (Kahammis correlates with Marianne as the
past informs the present.) Oliver’s portrait of Kahammis’s
civilization—its births and deaths, its wars and ceremonies—is rich
in detail. For example, a whale’s carcass is “kept afloat with
inflated sealskins,” and “thimbleberries are picked from thickets
along the creekbeds.” Against the onslaught of fur traders, explorers,
and colonists, Kahammis and her people struggle to keep their customs
and traditions alive, only to be devastated by the smallpox epidemic of
1863. Highly recommended for public libraries.