Anne DeGrace

This story was inspired by the creation of a flood control and hydroelectric dam (now known as the Keenleyside Dam) built in 1968 in British Columbia. It necessitated the relocation the community of Renata, that DeGrace calls Bear Creek in her novel. She tells the story in vignettes, describing the people who lived there since two young trappers arrived in 1904 until all the residents were bought out in 1968. Some were glad to leave, others were distraught to leave homes, graves, thriving fruit-growing businesses and memories. DeGrace's novel is fiction, yet the facts are clearly woven into the story that describes a very difficult time for everyone concerned. As well as being well-written, it was interesting to read of the area I know well, as it was before dams were built.… (mehr)

I'm ashamed that I have let this book sit on the shelf for so long as it was a very interesting book. It opens in 1904 with one of the first settlers in the Bear River area telling about injuring his leg in a bear trap and waiting for his partner to come to rescue him. The next chapter is 1905 and is narrated by Frieda Hartmann who came to the area with her husband George in 1899 as an advance party for a group of Mennonites from Manitoba. It is the day of her daughter's birth and Frieda names the daughter Ursula to honour the community. And on it goes from there, switching narrators and climbing up the 20th century to give a look at this remote community that was eventually flooded to provide hydro power.

There were some very interesting characters in the book. One of my favourites was Isobel who came from Winnipeg to the community to help her sister after a difficult birth. Isobel is a suffragette and intends to return to her life in Winnipeg as soon as she can. Ace, the horse that arrived in the community at the same time as she did, intervenes and Isobel ends up marrying Ace's owner. Isobel lives in Bear River until the very end. Her husband and Ace were buried under the same cherry tree and Isobel has to fight to ensure that their final resting place is not disturbed.

From what I can tell by searching the internet, the facts about the settlement of the area and about the flooding are true. It must have been heart-rending for those people who spent their whole lives there to have to leave it all behind, and you get a real sense of that from reading this book.… (mehr)