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Girl’s
dream
becomes real-life drama
SECOND
WATCH
Karen Autio
Sono Nis Press,
$9.95
OFF THE SHELF
by LINDA
TURK
Writer Karen Autio has
returned to her
roots with the story of young Saara Maki, whose parents moved from Finland
to Port
Arthur
in 1900.
The story begins in the
late
winter of
1914, when Saara is a typical schoolgirl, with chores to do at home, a
younger
brother who pesters her, and a friend who lives nearby – but
Saara’s also a
girl with a dream.
Saara and her mother
dream of
travelling to Finland
for a family wedding. Saara’s never met her grandparents or
other
relatives in
her parents’ homeland, and her mother wants to be present for
her
sister’s
wedding. They work – her mother as a seamstress, and Saara as
her
delivery
person – to save for the trip, but Saara’s father
thinks
the family’s first
priority should be to buy their own house.
Young as she is, Saara
can see
that both
parents aspire to something they believe is worth sacrificing for in
order to
do their best for their children. But life becomes more complicated
when
Saara’s father is fired from his job because of his union
activities, and money
is tighter than ever. Then the family receives frightening
news:
Saara’s
grandmother in Finland
is ill, maybe dying, and suddenly the trip is a reality.
There’s only enough
money
for Saara, her
mother, and her little brother Jussi to travel, so just the three of
them take
the train to Quebec City to board the Empress
of Ireland, a
great liner
that will take them across the Atlantic. Life on board ship is new and
exciting, but the Empress
is still in the Gulf
of St. Lawrence when
rammed by another ship. Saara is
separated from
her mother, and has to try to save herself in this disaster.
To give away more of the
story
would
perhaps spoil it for young readers, but Autio has researched the
sinking of the Empress of
Ireland
thoroughly, and stays within the realm of
possibility
when tying her fiction to the facts of the marine disaster.
This is a terrific book,
and a
polished
story by an author new to the Canadian literary scene, but with a
wonderful
future ahead.
Her characters are
entirely
believable, and
she’s woven documented events into her story beautifully,
right
down to giving
a name to the Kivela Bakery delivery-wagon horse. Autio has managed to
capture
the early maturity of those children who are the first generation born
in a new
country; children bridge that gap between the old country and the new.
Saara is
just a child, but is part of business transactions and has to be
present to act
as an interpreter in situations that require her to be far more mature
than her
actual age.
Karen Autio will be at
the
Finnish
Bookstore, 1-3 p.m. Saturday, May 28 to sign copies of her new book and
to meet
new fans and old friends.
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