Connie shares her review of The Tenderness of Wolves which takes place in Ontario, Canada, 1876:
Let me start by saying I am not much of a mystery reader, although I do enjoy character-driven stories in different settings and time periods. That is probably why this book appealed to me so much. There is a basic mystery at the core, but it seems secondary to the people, place, and time.
A French trapper has been murdered in a small settlement and a neighbor, Mrs. Ross, finds the body at the same time her 17-year-old son goes missing. Mrs. Ross, along with many others, sets out tracking her son and trying to discover who killed the trapper and why. Along the way, the reader learns a bit about the Hudson Bay Company and the peopling of the northern territory of Canada in the 19th century.
The story is told from the point of view of several characters as they traverse a cold, brutal environment, although Mrs. Ross’ story is the most developed. I found her a fascinating character and although the reader is given bits and pieces of her life, I wanted to know more. The author has said she wrote this, her first novel, as a sequel to a previously written screen play. The murder is solved by the end, but the characters’ lives aren’t resolved so neatly, leaving me — as a reader — hoping for another sequel!
Check the WRL catalog for The Tenderness of Wolves.
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At the end of the book William Parker states to Mrs. Ross, “You have never told me your name.” Mrs. Ross’ response was, ” You have used it often enough.”
This convinced me that I must truly be a butter knife in a drawer full of steak knives. In other words, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, since I cannot solve this last mystery and it is bugging me.
Can someone please tell me her name or what this section was all about?
Thanks!
It’s true, he has used her name often. Usually accompanied by the word “mush.” Mrs Ross and Parker’s sled dog share the same name. :)
I believe she is cutting him off from further intimacy; she realizes she must return to her life with her husband and son, and when she says he’s used it often enough, she’s meaning “Mrs. Ross”, which is sufficient.
Lucy is her name :)
I too reacted to that comment, and my interpretation is that Mrs. Ross is the lost sister, Amy Seton. Eve was adopted by an Indian tribe; but Amy, when found by her father, was placed in a mental institution. The time line makes sense although I cannot find confirmation of my idea. However, since the theme of the lost sisters permeates the story I feel that this interpretation makes sense.
I agree with Pat and believe that Mrs. Ross is Amy Seton. The fact that her first name is never mentioned makes that name a very important part of the book. And it’s the lost Seton girls around which everything flows.
The timing is right — as is Mrs. Ross’s time spent in the asylum (though I don’t necessarily agree that it was Mr. Seton who placed her there, perhaps another “father” who found her or with whose family she was placed) — and her occasional referrals to a more “refined” environment and upbringing.
Mrs Ross is not likely to be Amy Seton – at the start of the walk across the frozen lake, Mrs Ross recalls the last great journey she undertook. It was the journey from Edinburgh when she left the public asylum. The asylum period was before she arrived in Canada.
Re: her first name, I think that Parker’s use of the title ‘Mrs’, became equivalent to a name of endearment – it what she was known as to him in their relationship. A relationship that she did not wish to sour in her cherished memory. The true name was an irrelevance against the backdrop of their experiences which transcended cultural and other divides and confirmed that we are all fundamentally the same once we strip away all the baggage of modern life.
Re: the bone, I think that the true message coming through the whole story is of people and relationships. The bone tablet, which was important to people at the outset, became essentially irrelevant as people realised the importance of love. Francis, Mrs Ross, and even by inference Mr Sturrock, all lost interest in it as they realised love and finding a place in the heart of another was all that mattered – as also indicated by Donald in his dying thoughts of Maria.
One of the dogs is named Lucie – and I believe that somewhere in the book it mentions that Mrs Ross’s first name is Lucie as well, so as interesting as the other speculations are, I’ll have to go with Thomas’s.