THE LAST RIVER CHILD by Lori Ann Bloomfield
The setting is Walvern, a small village in rural Ontario, where everybody knows everybody else. Or they think they know them, for acquaintance can turn easily into gossip and suspicion. Peg Staynor, the heroine, becomes a victim of it, even as a child. For her curiously pale grey eyes and solitary manner play into local suspicions that she is a “river child,” the reincarnation of someone previously drowned, who will bring them bad luck. It is a barely credible device (and unfortunately not the only example of somewhat strained plotting), but it works well as a metaphor for a loneliness that gradually turns into independence and strength. For this is essentially a coming-of-age story with a sweet touch of romance, and Peg makes a heroine who is very easy to care about.
December 3, 2010
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Judi Clark В· 
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Tags: 1910s, 20th-Century, Ontario, Second Story Press, Small Town, Time Period Fiction В· Posted in: Canada, Coming-of-Age, Debut Novel, Facing History, Family Matters