The Holding

Canadian Simonds evokes the harsh conditions facing settlers in the Canadian wilderness by focusing in her debut on two women who live a century apart on the same parcel of land. In 1859, Margaret MacBayne emigrates from Scotland with her parents and three older brothers to stake a claim in uncharted territory. But hard luck follows them: the father is detained by illness upon arrival in Canada and the mother dies in childbirth soon after. The three brothers work hard, but when they are conscripted during the winter for logging jobs, young Margaret is left on her own. She thrives in her isolation, learning to fell trees and acquainting herself with the abundant plant life on the property. In a parallel narrative, set in the early 1990s, Alyson Thomson cultivates her garden and lives with her lover, Walker, a potter with a secret past. When Walker goes to work in a logging camp—leaving behind a pregnant Alyson—she, like Margaret, learns proficiency in her solitude. She also discovers cryptic writings detailing Margaret's cultivation of plants as curatives and hinting that she may have murdered her brothers. While the book has tantalizing dramatic moments, the wilderness itself is the star. The pull of isolation beautifully showcases both the tragedies and triumphs of living off the land. (Sept.)