Both informative and entertaining, this first novel in the Mighty Orion trilogy, addresses fractured relationships within families; inter-generational.Its setting is the rich bilingual Northern New Brunswick region of Canada.
Raging storms at sea pale in comparison to the challenges Percy Kilkenny, a once tall ship sailor, must face when, as an aging patriarch, he is placed in a nursing-care home. “Drown me in the salt-chuck first before you put me in a place like that,” he had warned his wife, Clara. However, this critical incident serves to spark a journey of redemption for the authoritarian commander of the Kilkenny household.
When a tragic accident claims the life of a teenager, Percy is painfully reminded of what happened to his own two children. The event propels him to examine fractured family relationships and to acknowledge his part in the alienation of the Kilkenny children. The one exception is Joe, his last born, who is a commercial fisherman on the west coast and who shares common ground with his father; a genuine love of the sea. Together with Clara, Joe supports his father’s wrestle with the ghosts of his past, especially those of his childhood which drove him to escape to seafaring, with all its perils, at the tender age of thirteen.
Meanwhile, during this home visit Joe is confronted with difficulties of his own. Still in love with his high school sweetheart, he is not deterred in his quest to win her back despite the fact that she has mysteriously married a scoundrel.
The real town of Dalhousie, New Brunswick stands as the setting. Colourful sea-going yarns coupled with the region’s bilingual flavour and rich cultural makeup, serve as a backdrop for this story, one concerned with healing the heart, and unveiling the soul.
Excerpt
“Yes, yes, I’ll take you there,” Percy said. “But, as I was telling you . . . that day I returned, a peculiar thought came to mind. Funny how it is you recall dem things. I was thinking how the handsomeness of the house on the outside didn’t let on what was happening on the inside. Yeah, that’s the thought was in my head.” He sucked on his pipe, stoking the embers into fiery crimson.
“Anyways, my stride slowed to a walk about then as I’m coming near the house, and I got this tightness in my belly. I stopped a moment and I remember I was starin’ down at the layer of leaves underfoot. Ah, the colours! Fiery orange, pure gold, and blood red were those maples, with rounded veins spreading out like a fan on each leaf. Then I lifted my head and peered up at the windows, see if I catch a glimpse. Some sign of her. But not a curtain was disturbed and not a soul in the back yard either, or even along the wooden walkways leading to the outbuildings.”
Percy’s voice lowered an octave. “I could smell the smoke from our chimney, grey waves of it lowering down at me. Further up the street were a gaggle of children talking and laughing whilst they climbed the trail to school . . . ” His words petered out and came to a stop.
At once, Joe felt himself in Percy’s shoes; he sensed the trepidation. The fear of a shadowy menace, of a lurking danger. The feeling of standing on a precipice waiting for a launch into freefall—into something bad. He waited. He was getting acquainted with this reticent quiet of his ol’ man. It always presented before the unwrapping. It wasn’t long before the subdued voice returned.
“Now I had to think about facing Mamma,” Percy slowly enunciated. “And the minute I thought that, the tightness gripped me again. ’Twas like a hard fist in my stomach. I told myself that she might’ve changed; maybe she’d even missed me, being I was away so long. Anyways, I quickly gave over my thoughts to Pappa. But that knot—that knot in my belly didn’t go away.”
Professional Reviews
Review by National President Canadian Authors Assoc. Anthony Dalton
Mighty Orion - Fate is a fascinating story of two sailors, father and son - one young and fit; the other old and frail and confined to a nursing home,as they explore their history together and their separate lives.
It is, most of all, the tale of a retired tall-ship sailor trying to come to grips with the ghosts of earlier years and of a present he cannot control.
Beautifully written with authentic New Brunswick accents, this debut novel by Patricia Donahue is a darned good read.
BC Author sets new novel in Dalhousie
Probably few people living in Dalhousie would consider it as the setting for a novel.They don't see their town as the sort of exotic spot where exciting things can happen.
Patricia A.Donahue of the Okanagan Valley, BC chose it as the place to examine the complex relationships between generations - generations of dysfunctional families that eventually come together as the skeletons in their closets are gradually revealed. The stories told to his son by an elderly man, now confined to a nursing home, form the basic narrative of Mighty Orion - Fate.
Donahue was born in Dalhousie and while preparing to write came back to again experience the town so she could get the setting right.
We often forget that there was a time when a lot of local young men went to sea, experiencing the world as only a sailor can. That was the time when first sailing vessels and then the International Paper Co. owned ships, carried the products of the Restigouche to markets around the globe.
The old man was one of these, but his adventures on the seven seas aren't what makes Mighty Orion - Fate memorable. It's the tensions, the antagonisms between him and his children, and between him and his mother that haunt his memory and that he painfully drags out in an attempt to make his son understand why life treated him and his siblings the way it did.
Donahue studied nursing in Montreal before heading to Vancouver, where she obtained bachelor's and master's degrees and raised three children. Later, she taught psychology and writing at British Columbia universities and ran a private practice as a psychologist.
That psychology experience is obvious as the narrative unfurls. It's easy to see the struggle as deeply buried and painful memories are revealed.
There's also a facing of current realities as the man and his son slowly learn to understand each other.
There are no violent encounters, just the threats of new ones and the memories of old ones. Still, the stories within a story have a fascination that grips the reader,who wants them to go on and on, but is tantalized by the interruptions and asides that make up normal conversation. In spite of a few historical inaccuracies, it's a really good read.
Bill Clarke, Curator of Restigouche Regional Museum, published in Telegraph Journal, St.John, NB
Mighty Orion - Fate Review in Quester's Magazine
Patricia was an RN and later became a practicing psychotherapist for many years in Vancouver.She now teaches at UBC-O Continuing Studies. This is her first novel - 8 years in the writing - and includes a research voyage as a trainee on a Tall Ship. Written in a richly descriptive style the story illustrates how deep and unresolved traumatic wounds of life experience affected a family; a New Brunswick family. It is based on Percy and his youngest child Joe and their journey of redemption. In the beginning of the book, Percy has just been placed in a nursing home, with all the fears and anger around that experience. He is an authoritarian patriarch and a tall ship sailor of old, and had cautioned his wife Clara, "Drown me in the salt-chuck first before you put me in a place like that". Clara nearing burn-out herself, eventually gives up her care-giving of Percy; he is 'put away'. His placement involves heavy sedation to reduce his violent outbursts of anger and indignation and this medication manifests in his very real visions; a threatening muskrat in the corner of his room in the Home. Constantly plagued by the vision as he lie confined, bedclothes pulled up to his nose, eyes narrowed, he demands a gun, ammunition and bait so he can deal with the rodent!
The story unfolds as Joe (whom his father calls, Timadie), responding to a cry for help from his mother, returns from the West Coast where he works as a commercial fisherman. Patricia has crafted the dialogue so as to echo the New Brunswick turn of phrase and accent. She uses the story to describe the seasons and the lives of the people of that famous Canadian land and coast line with such detail that you are right there in the setting when Percy and Joe recall critical times in their lives. Percy’s retelling of these events to Joe - tight cords of the traumas gradually unravel - explain what happened when, and to whom in the family, makes for a great read. I really enjoyed it and had a few belly laughs, recognising pieces that could have been from my own life that Patricia skilfully wove into Joe's.
Yes, I realize how 'the story', told from the heart when triggered by a deep emotion or even a familiar tune can lead to a profound healing and resolution of issues. The chain of damaged relationships, when this 'story' is related to and understood by all members of the family, can help break the strain, remove the heartache, anger and resentments. The result is a new and more loving family dynamic. Personally I regret not having been there to find out, to talk to my parents in my adult life and their later years about their experiences during the second World War. So many must certainly have been haunted by the traumas of those times, both as military personnel behind the lines and as War Widows left to cope with families at home. Catching 'the story' on tape for the family to hear at the appropriate time is a great service that some volunteers do in certain Hospice and Palliative Care Units.
Besides instructing at UBC-O, she is available to do workshops. For example, Mending Bridges in Family in Later Years, (what Percy is doing in the book) was recently provided to Seniors Learning in Retirement (SLR) in Kelowna. As she said to me, reconciliation can occur at any stage, especially in the later stages of life.
She has a website www.patriciaadonahue.com (for direct order of a 1st print, signed copies) with an attached blog, YesYouCan, focussed on Reconciliation. Since most of us are faced with this issue, she invites readers to comment; to join the discussion.
Sarah Roer, Questers Assoc.
Helios is an award winning novel about a brilliant inventor of new technology, a fallen CEO seeking redemption, and an idealistic youth who comes of age in corporate America.
3 WAY MIRROR is about a lost identity as experienced by a twenty-eight-year old who thinks he's Charles Randall, until strange events suggest otherwise.
