The Island Walkers by John Bemrose

The Island Walkers by John Bemrose

This is one of those 'dining room' books.  You know, the books my husband used to decorate the dining room.  I've decided to make my way around the dining room.  At least then I can cross at one room off my list of books. 

Several years ago I took a business trip to Toronto and ended up in a Chapters bookstore.  It was filled with books written by Canadian authors, books I'd never seen or heard of before.  I snatched up about ten books as if a famine was imminent and if I didn't have these very books, I'd starve.  The Island Walkers was published in 2004 so obviously I'm not starving.

Alf Walker is a hard working man who is a fixer at the local knitting mill in the 1960's.  The union tries to recruit him to help get into the factory ranks.  He's hesitant, remembering the bad blood the union left years earlier.  This novel is his story and the story of his wife and their failing marriage, his children and their confusion with life.  He struggles to help them be a family but he really doesn't know how.  And he doesn't know what went wrong.

The Island Walkers is a gripping and often sad story of how we are shaped by the world around us.  Bemrose is a fabulous crafter of words and emotions.  This is not a story to be taken lightly.  And once you're drawn in, there you'll stay. 

The beautiful, hardbound edition of The Island Walkers is now happily back in the dining room ready to greet my dinner guests.  Wonderful to read and wonderful to look at.