Fuelled by high-octane nostalgia and all about human yearnings, Ivan Ashley's first novel, Red Island Clay, The Life of an Island Farm Boy (2010, Big Bridge Music, 214 pages) constantly reminisces and plucks at heartstrings. This love story set in rural Canada spans the second half of the 20th century.
Intensely proud of farm lifestyles, Ashley tells a story that celebrates localities like Union Road, north of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where he lived as a boy. His main characters, Tom Lowden and Ann Browning, come from a similar place, the fictional Crossfield.
“This community of English and Scottish descendants, with one Dutch family rounding out the mix, were all hard working farm people who cared graciously for each other, always ready and willing to assist a neighbour in time of need. There were about 20 families and farms in Crossfield, each identified by the name on the mailbox…”
Apparently, it's like paradise. “The red clay looked so red, the green fields looked so green and the sky and sea were so blue that Tom wondered if any other place on earth looked anything quite like this.”
In the summer of 1950, Tom and Ann meet as 11-year-olds after the Browning family moves from New Brunswick. Tom experiences love at first sight, but Ann does not.
For decades, the chase continues. “Tom answered once more, ‘Ann, I need to fall asleep with you in my arms, have you wake beside me every morning and I need to see your pretty smile all day long.’ ”
Ashley calls the book “more than a simple love story”. It's also about growing up in the 1950s, living on farms, migrating for better jobs, yearning to go home, relying on family and community, dealing with loss and getting on with life.
A few big questions surface: Can heartbreak kill a person? Will the love of family and friends ease any ache? Does missing a crucial chance ruin everything?
Countless local history books document rural lifestyles. Inexplicably, few novels do the same, making Red Island Clay extra welcome. The title and cover design sprout straight from P.E.I.'s unusual red soil which supports the farms so prized by Ashley, his characters and readers. Clearly, the author relies on his own experiences and those of people he knew. He follows the big rule always taught in school -- “write about what you know”.
“Almost every family made a living by milking cows and selling separated cream to Central Creameries in Charlottetown, whose truck picked up the product twice weekly at each farm gate. Some also kept a few hogs and laying hens and most grew a few acres of potatoes, usually just enough to fill the house cellar. Each and every family made a fair and honest living. None got rich but all were able to raise their children without a lot of difficulty.”
Farm folks will find this easy reading, but city slickers may wonder at sentences like: “He is a Super Flag son out of a King Leader daughter so he will be a perfect outcross with our older females.”
Local flavors, sights and sounds fill these pages – like licking at orange-pineapple ice-cream cones, listening on a party phone line, fishing for tasty trout, petting faithful farm dogs, milking a cow named Bessie, walking to school, singing at Christmas concerts, ice-skating on a frozen pond, napping at Sunday church services and digging out after a snowstorm.
“For the next few days, all hands were busy shoveling a whole lot of snow and getting sick, sore and tired of it in the process. Being confined to home, with no mail, no way to get to a store and not seeing any neighbours for days, tends to give one what is commonly referred to as cabin fever.”
Willing to whet appetites, Ashley shows no mercy. “Soon the appetizing aroma of Christmas dinner filled the house and Mary Lowden was loading up the plates with potatoes, carrots, turnip, a large hunk of turkey, hot gravy and cranberry sauce. The great meal was topped off with a dessert of plum pudding, smothered in hot brown sugar sauce.”
Despite an absence of sex scenes, babies appear and need delivering. “The first thing that the men noticed was how big the calf's front feet were and also its huge head that was just beginning to show…. Quickly, Fred Lowden and his son George grabbed hold of the feet and together, as the young cow pushed, they pulled at the same time and slowly but surely made progress.”
Still a rural resident, Ashley shows a distinct style that carries his story along with the shifting seasons and farm activities, everything from feeding cows and harvesting crops to devouring big meals in the farmhouse. At times, the prose has a certain roughness, like a weathered board on a barn. At other moments, it's amazingly smooth, like a kitten’s purr.
“Summer moved along, one beautiful day after another with timely rain showers that kept everything nice and green. It was now August, the grain fields were starting to take on a tinge of gold and the corn was soon as high as an elephant's eye.”
Despite the precise setting, mainly one farm and a nearby church, school and community hall, thoughtful readers may find some angles with global implications. Consider that most folks in Crossfield hold high principles and deep religious convictions.
“None of the Lowdens had any bad habits such as smoking cigarettes, drinking booze or taking the Lord's name in vain. In fact, Fred and Mary Lowden would not allow any off-coloured story to be told and even a pack of playing cards was not permitted in their home.”
That almost sounds like religious extremism, not a good thing. But the characters would call themselves “good Christians”, just as hundreds of millions of modern people beyond the pages of Red Island Clay are “good Muslims”. Despite claims to the contrary, no religion is entirely errant or unerring.
This novel needed sterner editing and more eagle-eyed proof-reading. Even so, it’s no ordinary book, and the author’s no ordinary wordsmith. His creative flair and storytelling ability go beyond doubt.
Famed as a songwriter, Ashley usually indulges in a lifelong love affair with music. Some of his prose resembles song lyrics. “It was all part of a day at the beach and all too quickly, just like the days of their lives, time would pass by and bring their fun in the water to an end.”
Each of the book's 43 chapters begins with snippets from songs that Ashley has written. Not many authors can match that.
At a small-town book-launch party, Ashley sold stacks of his novel and a fistful of CDs. “It was a great evening,” he said, praising the presence of an impressive band. “We had great music with Dwayne Dorion as the lead vocalist, Don Olson on fiddle, Roy MacCaull on guitar, Victor Doucette on guitar and his wife Cathy on base.”
Usually an author reaching for a microphone to sing sends audiences scrambling away. Ashley's an exception. “I closed out the evening by singing the Porter Wagoner hit ‘Company's Comin'," he said. “I also did a piano solo, a great gospel classic tune, ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness', and a self-penned song, ‘Look At Me Now'."
By no coincidence, Tom Lowden also has a flair for music, especially heartache country songs. “Feeling sad seemed to make him feel better, which didn't seem to make much sense…”
Ashley has lived and learned enough to know that events often move full-circle. Certain situations near the end of Red Island Clay resemble those at the start.
True, the author peers at the past through rose-colored glasses. Many readers, especially those old enough to remember the same era, will forgive him because they wear the same kind of spectacles.
Approval rating: 80 per cent.
(July 13, 2010)
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