PREVIEW:
Alexander and Janet, Part I - When the cage brought them to the surface at the end of their shift, it was dark again and Alexander often wondered if there had ever really been any daylight. As they bicycled home, Alexander's thoughts were of Janet. They were going to get married and leave Galston forever as soon as she had fulfilled her two year obligation as servant girl to her employers, the Cunnminghams at the Manor House. He'd leave the damp pit and the coal dust and the constant poverty behind forever. He'd leave the miner's row of attached houses where every house looked like its neighbor with its stone walls and thatched roofs. Some said the row of buildings were eighty years old, most others didn't care. The roadways were unpaved and there was mud and pools of water during the winter in front of every doorstep. There was almost fifty people in their row with only one earth closet and one ashpit. Human excrement littered the muddy yard and the stench was unbearable but the inhabitants of the row houses had long since become unaware of it. Only visitors held their noses and wondered why anyone would want to live like this. But visitors weren't welcome so no one worried what they thought. ...
Alexander and Janet were married in the local church surrounded by all of Alexander's neighbours and his family. Janet's family had decided not to participate in the marriage of their middle daughter since they had been hoping for a better marriage for her than to that of a miner.
"Miners," they told everyone they knew, "are little more than rodents, burrowing in the ground; only coming out at night. They're dirty creatures with coal dust instead of sweat coming out of their pores." Janet had smiled courageously in spite of their hurtful words but Mam Stewart saw the tears in her eyes.
Janet's pregnancy was not as yet obvious but the neighbours whispered that there was likely to be a seven month baby. They shrugged. "There are a lot of nine pound seven month babies born but who counts anyway?"
Elsa, daughter of Alexander and Janet, Part II - Walking aboard the C.P.R. Ferry from the downtown Vancouver wharf, Elsa clutched her battered old cardboard suitcase tightly. As the vessel moved further out into the water, she watched the deep troughs of waves following behind as it made a wide arc, gradually leaving the wharf far behind. She might have been crossing the ocean back to Scotland, so lonely did she feel. Seagulls screeched overhead, occasionally landing on the railing nearby. Wrapping her coat more tightly around her body for warmth, she remain on the deck, not wanting to go into the interior of the crowded ship. She preferred instead to be alone with her misery. ...
He had black curly hair, streaked with gray and what appeared to be a two or three day growth of whiskers on his weathered face. His eyes were alert and intelligent as he watched a group of small children playing, a paternal and good-natured smile hovering on his lips. Elsa walked timidly towards him.
"Ah, you must be the new girl, Elsa Stewart," his friendly face was wreathed in a huge smile.
Elsa nodded her head causing her hat to bob vigorously on her head. She grabbed it before it could fall to the ground, feeling her face grow warm with embarrassment.
"It's very nice to meet you, Miss. The Clarkson children have been bouncing around for the last few days, plenty excited about meeting you." Grabbing her suitcase, he threw it into the back of the truck before turning to open the door of the cab for her.
"By the way, the name's Cye Morrison," he said extending a weathered hand in Elsa's direction. "Must be pretty scary for a young girl like yourself comin' all this way to live with complete strangers." Elsa swallowed with difficulty as she struggled to hold back her threatening tears. ...
Sarah Ann, daughter of Elsa and Peter, Part III - "You have a lot of bruises and scrapes on your face, Heather," Sarah Ann said.
Shrugging her shoulders, Heather kept her eyes fastened to the floor. "If my father finds out ... that I've told you ... I'll be in more trouble." Her eyes shone brightly with unshed tears.
"He won't find out, Heather. Can you tell us what happened?"
Heather nodded her head but refused to look up. "I asked why my mother ... was in the ... hospital. He hit me ... I fell down. He said it was ... none of my b.b.business."
The tears spilled down her face and Sarah Ann ached to take her into her arms but knew she couldn't. "I'm so sorry, Heather. Would you like us to see how your mother is doing? We could find out for you; would you like us to do that?" ...
"Have you thought about seeing a counselor yourself, Sarah Ann? Even doctors see other doctors, you know. I think if you could get over this problem, you and Adam would be happy together."
"I thought I would be able to work it out for myself.
"You haven't been able to so far, my dear."
"Adam said he wanted to get married and have children. We had a discussion and then he just walked away. I can't believe he's been gone this long without calling me."
"I don't blame him, Sarah Ann. He's told you exactly how he feels and I can't see that you've made an effort." ...
Review by Writer's Digest:
"His Sins" spans three generations of a struggling family, focusing on the fate of the women who ally themselves with ambitious, emotionally distant and selfish men. The writer creates compelling, complex and intricate characters, particularly in the case of Elsa who the reader follows from before birth until the cliffhanger ending. The social and political events of the time periods covered by this novel come into play in realistic plot twists and scenarios that help develop charactr and build tension. Each generation is convincingly drawn - they all have different ways of speaking, thinking and navigating their worlds. Ms. Behnish was able to carry some of the concerns of the first generation into the third without making all of the characters similar.
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