Cruelest Month
Ernest Buckler’s literary stature was established by the publication of The Mountain and the Valley, which in the author’s own lifetime is already entrenched as a Canadian classic. The same remarkable qualities that led to that acclaim are abundantly present in this second novel: the ever-renewing wondering regard for nature; the incomparable portrayal of human relationships; the complex prose with its carefully chosen words expressing in a cluster of meaning the full impact of an idea or situation.
Against a deceptively simple background Ernest Buckler weaves a complicated and intricate design. The setting is a country guesthouse in Nova Scotia -- a kind of dream haven for getting away from it all. Not every passing traveler is welcome. The price of…