In 1832, four children from Horning’s Mills ventured into the nearby Melancthon swamps in search of a lost cow. They were never seen again, and rumours spread that they had been kidnapped by Indians.
The resultant recriminations and gossip intrigued modernday writer Lorina Stephens, whose new novel, Shadow Song, revolves around the incident.
“Earlier in the same day, an Ojibwa man had gone into the local flour mill and offered venison in trade for flour,” Ms. Stephens explained. “He was refused. When the children went missing, it was assumed by many that he had abducted them in revenge.
“That was never substantiated,” she says. “In all of my research of Ontario’s native people, the concept of taking people and using them as slaves was completely foreign to Ojibwa culture.
“I’m not saying it wasn’t possible, but it was highly unlikely.”
The novel unfolds through the eyes of Danielle Michele Fleming, a French girl born to wealth who, through a series of unfortunate events, is orphaned and winds up living with an abusive, oppressive uncle in the new world.
Danielle ends up fleeing her uncle and living amongst the Ojibwa, where she is mentored by Shadow Song, a shaman.
Ms. Stephens will be signing copies of her book at Coles Book Store in the Orangeville Mall between 1 and 3 p.m Saturday.
It is the first fiction work by Ms. Stephens, who came upon accounts of the Horning’s Mills incident while researching her book Touring the Giant’s Rib: A Guide to the Niagara Escarpment.
Her other books include Recipes of a Dumb Housewife and a book on the Credit River Valley written for the Credit Valley Conservation authority.
Her portfolio includes published short stories and journalism pieces, including some for the Orangeville Citizen.
Her inspiration to write Shadow Song came not just from the children’s disappearance but also from what she saw as the odious human behaviour that came to the fore after it happened.
“I’m usually an optimist regarding people,” she says, “but I have always been interested in the dark side and what makes people do the cruel things they do.”
It is often the case with contemporary Canadian authors that they have a tendency to punctuate their novels with long, psychological dissertations on mundane subjects. It’s as if they feel that each everyday occurrence is fraught with deep sociological undertones.
Shadow Song, fortunately, is free of such meanderings. It has a good economy of words and each paragraph contains vital information.
“I believe in the philosophy of writing that says ‘don’t marry the fly,’ meaning that I want to keep the readers going forward,” says Ms. Stephens. “I don’t want to confuse them or cause a digression through extraneous information.
“I think that everything you have in your story should be pertinent to your story. It’s important to choose the words and scenes in your story very carefully. I don’t want to disparage what those great writers do. They do it very well. But it’s just not my style.”
Asked what authors have most influenced her writing, Ms. Stephens pointed to Margaret Atwood. “Her words are absolutely incisive. If anybody could be called a great writer of the 21st century, it would have to be her.”
Novel writing is a lonely, tedious profession and the rewards are often few and far between. Ms. Stephens spent five years crafting Shadow Song, even though she knew she would have to self-publish the work.
Having been a professional writer for 27 years, the 52- year-old author has long since shed any delusions she may have had about the romance of the business.
“For the first 10 years or so, I was wearing a pair of rosecoloured glasses,” she admits. “I started writing at the age of 24 and I remember saying to myself that, at the age of 30, I should have my first novel published.
“It was an enormous disappointment to me when it didn’t happen. Now, I write because I feel I have to. I have something to say. Whether somebody is listening or not is irrelevant.”
That’s not to say that she is scornful of those writers who find their niche, write to a formula and sell boat loads of books. “That has to be an individual choice. Every writer is going to have a different raison d’être.
“If somebody is looking for advice, I would tell them not to look at the publishing industry as a noble enterprise. It’s a job.”
While some “literary folk” wouldn’t be caught dead within 20 feet of a novel by romance writer Danielle Steele, Ms. Stephens sees such authors as good writers.
“If people are interested in reading your work, you’ve struck a chord,” she points out.
She said Steele’s predecessor was Jacqueline Suzanne (Valley of the Dolls), “who created a whole new trend in the blockbuster novel. Was she a good literary writer? Heavens, no. Did she strike a chord with the reading public? Absolutely. That makes her a good writer.”
Art, in Ms. Stephens’ estimation, is all about communication. Whether it be painting, sculpting or crafting a story, if one is not communicating, one is not doing the job.
“It’s good to study other people’s work. That’s the way you learn. Ultimately, you have to find your own voice.”
After living for more than 20 years in Orangeville, Ms. Stephens now resides in Neustadt, near Hanover, in a 3,000- square-foot Loyalist home with husband Gary, a glazier. He is also a historical cooper who recreates buckets, barrels and tubs for museums and living history sites across North America and in Britain.
She has two children. Adam, 31, is a publicist for the Alberta Theatre Project in Calgary. Her daughter Kelly is a retail manager who is also working on her degree at the University of Guelph with the plan of entering law school.
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