Set in a small town on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, Baker breathes life into its dusty farmlands and passion into an ordinary German community with layers upon layers of meaning — a pleasant surprise from a first-time novelist.

The Horseman’s Graves tells the story of Lathias, a half-breed farmhand, only a boy himself, who becomes the self-appointed guardian and protector of the Schoff’s only boy following a terrible farm accident that scarred him both physically and mentally. This is as complicated as their lives get until Leo, a historic a target of the town’s hatred and scorn, rolls into town with a new wife and fiery red-haired daughter, who will change their lives forever.

Pitting her characters against juxtaposing themes of good and evil, old and new, passion and fear, religion and superstition, Baker provides a vivid and enticing picture of the complexities of prairie living unknown to those who have never experienced it. It’s all about the shades of grey that lie between these oppositions and the reader is placed in a curious state as a result: the story thrilling, yet slow; the characters complex, yet plain; the message clear, yet dark.

Although expertly told, The Horseman’s Graves is not about stories and traditions passed throughout the generations, or the verifiable truth or fiction behind them, but rather the way they can float in that grey area between until it no longer matters what they are, but rather who is behind them and what they say about us. In Baker’s own words, this novel is “[a]bout Ghosts. And about blood. About trying to get at both of them. And about our inability to do so.”

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Canadian literature, myth, and storytelling, and an appreciation for mysterious shades of grey.

Posted on July 25th, 2007 by Erin McIntosh
Filed under: canadian, literary fiction