Written in the tradition of Guy Gavriel Kay and Charles de Lint, Shadow Song is set amid the economic ruin that occurred to so many émigrés and British pensioned officers of the 1830s. It is full of psychological and cultural contrasts of two cultures at odds with one another, and an intimate familiarity with the geography of the novel, from the immigrants’ miserable landing stage at Grosse Isle into the dark reaches of Superior’s North Shore.
From a Canadian Author Arises a Canadian Historical Fantasy about the Mysteries of Upper Canada’s Backwoods
In a sea of American literature comes the truly Canadian voice of Lorina Stephens, author of Shadow Song, the fourth publication and first novel of this Ontario born and raised author. Written in the tradition of Guy Gavriel Kay and Charles de Lint, Shadow Song is set amid the economic ruin that occurred to so many émigrés and British pensioned officers of the 1830s. It is full of psychological and cultural contrasts of two cultures at odds with one another, and an intimate familiarity with the geography of the novel, from the immigrants’ miserable landing stage at Grosse Isle into the dark reaches of Superior’s NorthShore.
Danielle Michele Fleming, daughter of a French aristocratic mother, and the second son of English gentry, finds herself caught in the economic ruin that surrounds the failure of the Bourbon Monarchy. Without the surety of her mother’s lands in France, Danielle’s uncle forecloses on loans he holds for his brother. Her privileged life erodes into abject poverty and orphan. She finds herself aboard ship, destined for the Queen’s Bush of Upper Canada and a life with the catalyst of her doom, her uncle, Edgar Fleming.
Burdened by guilt of her visions and the mortal sin they represent, life on the edge of the pioneer village of Hornings Mills creates for her a world of fear, pain and eventually flight into the very soul of what she has been taught is evil – that of the pagan society of Upper Canada’s native people. She seeks sanctuary with the shaman Shadow Song only to find herself hunted by her uncle. She seeks family among her adopted clan only to find herself ostracized once she reaches womanhood. She seeks love, which is realized with Shadow Song, only to have it torn from her as all else, and once again, through the long arm of her uncle. Relentless in his hunt for her, he has her tracked not only by bounty hunters, but in the end through another shaman of evil intent and a blood-debt to settle with Shadow Song.
Professional Reviews
The (Hanover) Post
Lorina Stephens has proven herself an engaging author.
Susan Doolan, The Barrie Examiner
The book, Shadow Song, is as diverse as the woman who wrote it.
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