All True Not a Lie in It

by Alix Hawley

This book is by a Kelowna Author.  It has been getting a lot of acclaim and is on the Giller Prize longlist this year, deservedly so.

The book is about Daniel Boone, told in the first person.  It is about his early life as a young man, then on into the years where he marries and tries to settle down.  But he is always restless to be out on the land and hunting.  So even when he and his wife get settled he often moves her on.

He like many other adventurers at the time are trying to encroach further into Indian territory in the west.  Boone wants to settle down in Kentucky.  It seems to beckon him.  The Indians of course are fighting back, at one point they capture his daughter and some other girls and Boone and others have to go rescue them.

In the latter part of the book Boone and others have set up a rickety fort.  They leave their wives and families behind and head off hunting but are captured by some Shawnee.   Most of the men are treated as slaves but for some reason the chief adopts Boone as his replacement son.  Although he attaches a guard to him so he won't escape.  Boone's people consider him their leader and are angry at him for not figuring out how they can escape.  At one point Boone's "father" takes Boone and some of his friends to a British general.  The others are sold but Boone's father refuses to sell him.  They bartered the me for goods.  Boone doesn't seem to feel much if any remorse for the loss/possible death of these people that looked up to him.

A black man living with the Indian's urges Boone to escape with him.  But Boone chooses not to do this.  The black man then tells the chief that  Boone was thinking of escaping and he is imprisoned for a time.  He eventually is wed to an Indian woman.

He is haunted by the thoughts of dead family members, and thinks of his first wife and family sometimes but not enough to want to escape.  He does live in fear that he will be asked to lead the Indians to the fort and that will result in a massacre.  Only at the end of the book does he attempt to return.  But we do not find out what has happened to his wife and daughters.

This is an incredible book, the level of detail of the life and conditions is amazing.  An incredible amount of research must have gone into it.  The author gives so much detail you can see, feel and smell everything about what life would have been like at the time.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

by Katarina Bivald

This book is a gem.  It is the debut novel by a Swedish author. 

The story is about a 28 year old Swedish woman, a bookworm, who has lost her job at a bookstore when it went out of business.  Sara had been sharing letters with an elderly book lover, Amy, in Broken Wheel Iowa.  The letters were largely about books but Amy but also tells Sara about the town.  She invites Sara to come for a visit and Sara decides to take her up on the offer.  What does she have to lose, she has no job and she is a disappointment to her parents.

However, when she arrives in the U.S. Amy isn't there to greet her.  Amy has died.  A neighbour comes to pick her up and she arrives at Amy's house as the funeral gathering is occuring.  She thinks she should leave but the town's people encourage her to stay on, staying at Amy's place.

She agrees to do this and gets to know the half deserted town and its quirky residents.  She is bored just reading and decides to take Amy's large collection of books and set up a bookshop in the store that was once Amy's husband's unsuccessful hardware store.  The husband predeceased Amy.  Sara is convinced that the people in the town aren't readers and she is committed to changing that.  At first people just stand outside and watch her reading inside.  But gradually they come in to talk and eventually borrow or buy a book.

Word of the bookstore spreads to the nearest town Hope and soon the unimaginable happens, people from Hope come to visit/shop in Broken Wheel. Sara's spunk seems to inspire the who town.  The decide to have a fair and a town dance.  They realized that Sara is the reason the town has been reinvigorated and the town's people conspire to have one of the few bachelors in town marry Sara so she can stay in the U.S.    Sara and the young man actually love each other but are afraid to admit it and soon the immigration people arrive in town to investigate whether a marriage of convenience is being planned.

Things all work out well in the end.  A lovely, quirky story.  The author did an amazing job of portraying a down and out American small town and the petty politics, scheming, gossiping, etc. that occurs.