Miramichi author celebrates farm life in rural New Brunswick
Books and Backroads readers felt connection to Wayne Curtis novel that ‘brought back childhood memories’
Growing up in the Blackville, N.B., area in the 1940s and '50s, author Wayne Curtis started writing in elementary school.
He remembers reading the work of Robert Frost, who he said influenced him greatly.
"I loved his stuff because his landscape was my landscape — farm," he said. "I could identify with everything he was talking about."
Members of CBC New Brunswick's Books and Backroads book club in Plaster Rock had a similar experience reading Curtis' book, One Indian Summer, which was published by Goose Lane in 1993.
Readers in six small communities in rural parts of the province took part in book clubs as part of CBC's partnership with New Brunswick Public Libraries.
Club members discovered books from an array of genres, all with a connection to New Brunswick.
Susan Mulherin said she felt a deep connection to Curtis's novel, which tells the story of Steven Moar as he is growing up on a New Brunswick farm in the 1950s.
Moar finds himself caught between his loyalty to his family to stay and work on their horse farm and his personal desire to go to the city and earn a university education.
"I loved the book," said Mulherin, whose father had a farm. "We had cows, horses, pigs — so it was like almost coming home because I grew up in the '50s ... so it was just like, 'Oh, I'm a kid again.'"
'Every little season had its job'
Curtis dropped out of high school but completed a GED and took courses at St. Thomas University in Fredericton for about 10 years. He never completed his Bachelor's degree but did receive an honourary doctorate in 2005.
He called One Indian Summer a reflection of life in communities along the Miramichi River and an account of the deterioration of the family farm.
"I tried to keep it as close as I could to the original dialogue," he said. "The lingo, the way we talk over there."
He said that on a farm, "every little season had its job," from cutting wood to planting and harvesting or killing pigs.
"I was trying to describe the way I saw the farm when I was a kid."
"I've been there," said library manager and book club member Stephanie Hamilton, after reading Curtis's description of a livestock auction.
"I remember going to the sale with my father and grandfather and sitting in the truck and being parked somewhere with some farm animal on the back, sinking lower and lower into the seat out of embarrassment."
Library assistant Sandy Wilmering appreciated the setting of the novel. She felt the Miramichi River was symbolic of the character's wishes to "burst free and be wild" at times.
Hamilton agreed, and drew a parallel to living alongside nature during all seasons.
"The anxiety of the ice flowing in the river resonated with me… that kind of anxious unknowing was very familiar."
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