Away by Jane Urquhart

This is not my normal kind of reading. I prefer to read multi-layered mysteries with complex and interesting characters. But if you’ve read a few of my previous reviews you will have noticed a theme of evil and mayhem and I decided I really needed a change of pace for a few books.

My sister gave me this for Christmas and it took me a long time to really get into the book. No murder and mayhem but there are complex and interesting characters. It’s a very lyrical almost poetic book. It’s a romance but not just a romance between men and women but between people and their land. The conversations are as taciturn as the people. This story is not driven by dialogue.

It’s a story about a woman in Ireland who falls in love with an injured sailor who washes up on her beach and dies in her arms. The experience changes something in her mind and she becomes “away”. When someone is away they are both here and not here. Her family eventually moves to Canada and the ability to be "away" moves along with them so that future generations are affected by this. As settlers in a new land they face hardship and dangers and even find love.

The writing is beautiful. One of my favourite chapter beginnings is "When summer was finished the family was visited by a series of overstated seasons". You just know that the Fall and Winter are going to be devasting ones by a simple turn of the phrase.

This is a book that should be read on long, lazy afternoons as the story needs to take hold in your mind. It's hard to read in small chunks as the story can become confusing. It's worth reading though so save it for a vacation and spend the day lost in another world that will make you feel as if you've been away.