Sep 30

Written by: Joe Longo
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 

Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart just released this year a novel set primarily in Niagara Falls. The title is “Falling” by Anne Simpson. Simpson’s book “Loop” was the winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize and a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry.

McClelland & Stewart’s website describes “Falling” this way.

On a late summer day along the shores of Nova Scotia, a young woman makes a mistake that will claim her life, while at the other end of the beach her brother, Damian, is unaware that she is drowning. Beginning with this shattering event, Anne Simpson’s mesmerizing novel unfolds in unexpected ways.

A year after the accident, Damian and his mother, Ingrid, travel to Niagara Falls to scatter Lisa’s ashes and to visit Ingrid’s estranged brother, once a famous daredevil of the Falls, now blind, and his mentally disabled son. But old wounds and new misunderstandings soon collide.

Damian, burdened by guilt, finds solace in an intense relationship with a girl he first glimpses in a tattoo parlour. A runaway with dreams of New York City, Jasmine has her own reasons for wanting to escape the past. Meanwhile, Ingrid, having reluctantly returned to her childhood home, finds herself at odds with her brother and besieged by memories. As the summer progresses, each of them becomes caught in the pull of the past — until an act of recklessness shocks them into a new course for the future.

In startling, luminous language, Anne Simpson captures both the natural beauty and tawdry eccentricity of Niagara Falls, while evoking the elemental bonds that tie us to the ones we love. By turns uncompromising and heartbreakingly tender, Falling is a riveting story of ordinary people poised on the knife-edge of grief and hope.”

Many Niagara Falls neighbourhoods and buildings are described including the Lundy’s Lane Historical Museum where one of the characters is employed.

I enjoyed this Canadian novel & hope you do too. All of our four libraries have a copy. If they are out, place a reserve on our website www.nflibrary.ca either at the library or 24/7 anywhere else.

* * * * * *

Register soon for the upcoming children’s craft programs to be held Oct. 4, 18 and 25 at our four libraries. The highlight is the annual costume parade and party on Oct. 25 where youngsters of all ages enjoy a spooky party of fun, food, prizes and movies and dress-up and parade inside each library.