Hidden Places

by Lynn Austin

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www.chapters.indigo.ca

This is my first encounter with Lynn Austin. I enjoy historical fiction, but have not read many books set during the Great Depression. This is a favourite era of mine, so I anticipated a great read in this book and was not disappointed!!

Let me begin by saying that I loved this book and I hated it. No, that's not quite right. I loved this book, but I hated some of the characters in it! I believe this is what Lynn Austin intended. Her characters are so believable that the reader finds herself so immersed in the story that strong emotions like love and hate are felt throughout the duration of this novel.

Lynn drew me in immediately with her detailed and humourous descriptions of her characters and their hilarious antics, such as Aunt Batty and her one-eyed hunting dog, Winky, who meanders around the farm in a zig zag line because he cannot see straight! Or her pampered cats, Queen Esther and Annabella, the latter one who so longs to have kittens that she pretends the kids' mittens are her kittens!! I found myself laughing outloud at these outrageous characters throughout the beginning of this book. The author has you so "in love' with these characters that as you learn more about their pasts and the crueler characters in their lives, you feel emotions close to hate. I found myself reminding myself that "these are only fictional characters and don't get so upset!" Yes, the animals in this book are characters in their own right!

Lynn Austin succeeds in describing characters that we can all probably relate to in some part of our lives or pasts. Including the despicable sorts that cause damage to us or our loved ones. Her descriptions of Frank Wyatt are powerful and the actions of this character and his negative influence on the lives of his own family members were the parts of the novel that I hated. Yes, they were necessary. In fact, this character was central to all the story lines in this book. It is his selfish, mean-spirited and evil character that causes the reader to feel such hostile feelings towards him. Yet again, I say, I loved this book.

The author cleverly tells the story through various different points of view. Each character's narration is followed by a chapter on "Wyatt Orchards" during one season or another. It could be argued that the orchard became one of the characters in this novel! In fact, this novel would be an excellent one to study in detail. Each character's narration brings another piece to the puzzle of this family and helps the reader (and in fact the characters in this book) understand the motivations that drove each character to act the way they did. It is a mystery of sorts that is carefully revealed through each chapter of the book, by different characters and their personal life stories, until the mystery is solved at the end. It has the reader guessing, along with the main character, about who the real identity of one character is.

The character descriptions, the plot (how will Eliza Wyatt save the family Orchard for an inheritance for her children during the Great Depression) and the plot- within-the-plot (which is essentially the retelling of personal stories of the lives of certain characters,) and the emotional dialogues between characters all contribute to making this novel the unique tapestry that it is. It is a definite must read for all fiction lovers, as well as critical readers, who will find this book a gold mine. Go out and get this book today!