Terrence Rundle West

Robert Terrill Rundle was a Methodist clergyman from Cornwall, England who in 1840 is assigned to be a missionary in Saskatchewan. The author traces Rundle's journey from Cornwall to Fort Edmonton where he quickly meets the restrictions of being the responsibility of the Hudson's Bay Company. The men of the Bay Co. want Rundle to work with the Indians at the Fort but he wants to travel and convert the natives in their villages which are long distances from the safety of the Fort.

Rundle learns to travel in all kinds of weather often facing death from starvation, weather or being killed by natives on the war path as he seeks to convert the Indigenous Peoples who never go near a fort. He decides he must travel to the Indigenous villages armed only with his bible. He eventually is accepted by two powerful First Nations groups- the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Plains Cree Alliance at a time when these organizations are fighting for control of their hunting grounds and the diminishing buffalo herds.

There is a parallel narrative to Rundle's story as novelist West adds the fictional character Sees Far, a Blackfoot warrior, to illustrate what life for the Indigenous peoples was like in this transitory period as the white man became more numerous on the plains.

Rundle is an ancestor of novelist West who use Rundle's diary in his research. This novel is a pleasurable way to learn what life was for the plains tribes before the European's completely destroyed their way of life. While it is an historical novel, West includes excerpts from Rundle's diary at key moments so we can feel what Rundle did.… (mehr)

This book was great! It tells the story of two young men from Montreal, one a French Catholic from the upper classes and the other a working-class Jew in the 1930s. The author portrays the history of that time so well, with especially well-drawn and complex characters. Both men end up in Spain, one to fight against Franco; the other to report back stories favourable to Franco's, and the church's goals.

In this story, we get a sense of Canadian history, including the great depression and the early days of organized labour. We also get a moving story about love, loyalty and standing up for what we believe in.

I've never heard of this author before, but will definitely be looking for more of his books. The writing is so strong...crisp, beautiful, engaging.… (mehr)

While this is a novel, it reads like a biography. Full of history about a period of Canadian History that is not always covered in history classes, it gives the reader an idea of what it was like to live in Montreal in the 1930's with poverty, racism and nationalism dominating the lives of the people. The French Catholic Church receives much criticism for its support of the ruling class and its antisemitism and anti-unionism.

For an understanding of the Spanish Civil War and why young men from Canada and other democracies went there to fight for or against Fascism, West presents some of the reasons through the views of his characters. He also does the same for the reasons so many men traveled back and forth across Canada on the freight trains during the Depression years. If you have no idea what the life of a hobo was like in that time period, this novel would be a good place to start.… (mehr)