As readers of this blog (and colleagues in the reading world) know, Robertson Davies is one of my favorite writers. My enjoyment of Davies’ books has sparked my interest in Canadian fiction, and I have been fortunate to find a number of other writers from the North who have captured my attention. A while back, a good friend who is a librarian in Kitchener, Ontario introduced me to a new Canadian novelist (thanks, Sharron!).
Peter Behrens is a lyrical and elegant stylist, whose novel The Law of Dreams takes the reader on a journey from famine-torn Ireland to the new world, specifically, Montreal. Behrens tells the story of Fergus O’Brien, whose family farms on shares on an Irish estate. When the famine comes, Fergus’s father refuses to leave the farm, and hunger ends their lives, excepting Fergus. He takes first to the road, and then joins with a band of rebels who live off what they can steal from the landlords. Here, he finds a home and new family of sorts, but violence forces him again to flee. The rest of the story tells of Fergus’s travels across Ireland to England and finally to Canada. As in any tale of epic journeys, Fergus gets assistance from unlikely characters, finds and loses love and money, and learns some truths about himself. All along the way his skill with horses stands him in good stead. Behrens tells a powerful and powerfully sad story of the Irish Diaspora.
Readers who enjoy Ivan Doig’s stories of coming of age in the Big Sky country or the historical fiction of Lee Smith will find a similar feel to Behren’s novel.
Check the WRL catalog for The Law of Dreams
Thanks for this generous review. Please check out my new novel, THE O’BRIENS which is just released thsi week in Canada (anansi press)—not in the US until March 2012 (Pantheon) http://www.facebook.com/theobriensnovel
I look forward to getting The O’Briens when it is out in the US. Glad you enjoyed the review. I certainly enjoyed the book!
[...] month, I wrote about one of my favorite Canadian writers, Peter Behrens. Another Canadian author who deserves a wider readership in the U.S. is Wayne Johnston. In his [...]
I loved the O’Briens, and for kicks tuned in to listen to an interview with Mr Behrens (http://bookreportradio.com/interviews/Peter%20Behrens%20Interview%20WEBSITE.mp3) , only then to find that the O’Briens is pretty much the second book to a sequel. Even though there’s joy in finding this book, I wish I had known beforehand, and would’ve started with The law of dreams instead. Another intersting link that came from the interview, was my introduction to John McGahern – thanks for that Mr Behrens, I’m now knee-deep in Irish lit.
Hi, Tina, Glad that you liked Behrens. The O’Briens was a great book, and I think that you will enjoy Law of Dreams as well. You might also want to have a look at The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston who is another fine Canadian writer.