"It's apparent we're dealing with sorrow, but in Tilberg's pictures from a mind reeling we see also the world's gifts. Oonagh Corcoran is the mad sister in the guest room, bleeding hallucinatory joy and pain, a damaged vessel that her family can't fix. It's an uncommonly adept and affecting first chapter. The writing is chock full of quiet wonders."Yes Jim, yes it is. You can read the rest of the review here.
"The book has left me feeling sad; I wasn't prepared to be done with Chauncey and Oonagh, yet. I wanted to know Oonagh's family better; I wanted to know more about her sisters and brother who didn't come to Canada. Mostly, though, I wanted there to be more to Oonagh and Chauncey's story."
In 1831, eighteen-year-old Oonagh Corcoran emigrates with her sister from southern Ireland to Upper Canada. In the deep folds of cool, green forest off the vast inland sea of Lake Ontario, she believes she has found paradise — only to discover that the New World harbours its own horrible injustices when she meets a fugitive slave from Virginia named Chauncey Taylor. Love grows between them as Chauncey slowly reveals his terrible past to Oonagh, reliving the pain and tragedy he and his family suffered as slaves. The two find that even in their small, accepting community, there are certain lines that can never be crossed.