Shop By Category  
 

Novel: Mighty Orion - Fate

by Patricia Donahue

Be the first to comment on this article

Patricia DonahueMighty Orion – Fate (a Novel)
  by Patricia A. Donahue, 2010

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 Company-owned ships carried the products of northern N.B.'s Restigouche River, to markets around the globe.

The old man was one of these, but his adventures on the seven seas aren't what make 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.

"Drown me in the salt-chuck first before you put me in a place like that!" he warns his wife who unfortunately is forced to place him in a nursing home. A compassionate son, a fisherman, becomes his sounding board for injustices suffered, and for his tales of the sea, as simultaneously the two men explore the realities of their lives.

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. (Review by Bill Clark, Restigouche Regional Museum / Campbellton Tribune, Telegraph Journal, N.B.)

Part of the author's research was aboard a tall ship as a trainee for a harsh north Atlantic crossing. This was the 180 ft.,Bark Europa, for the Acadian Sail, 2004; ship's Master, Captain Klass Gaastra.

Signed copies available from author Patricia Donahue $25. (Inc.tax & shipping) or in N.B. at: Restigouche Reg. Museum, Dalhousie; Bathurst Bk. Gallery; Tidewater Bks., Sackville; Folio Bks, Moncton; Cover-to-Cover Bks., Riverview.

This article was published on Wednesday 01 June, 2011.
Tell a friend
Tell a friend about this article:  

Share your comments of this article with other readers... Be the first to comment on this article
 
0 items

Your Account  
Your Email Address
Your Password

Compare Product  

Facebook Twitter YouTube Sign Up for Email