Coppermine

In an attempt to blog about something more interesting then the snot in my head or my random mind wanderings, I thought I'd do some book reviews.  I  always have a least one book on the go, a huge stack on my bedside table queued up.  Currently, my tastes run to mysteries, particularly medieval mysteries and historical fiction, stories set in the past about people going about their lives.  I seem to read only British and Canadian authors.  I don't know if that's some kind of sub-conscious choice or if it just so happens that's what I pick up.

Coppermine by Keith Ross Leckie

Set in the Canadian North in 1913-1917, this is the fictionalized true story of two Inuit hunters brought to trial for killing two priests.  Mountie Inspector Creed and his Inuinnaqtun interpreter  Angituk McAndrew embark on a year-long journey to discover what happened to the two priests and bring any culprits to justice.  They reach the murder site, find the two Inuit hunters who readily admit that they killed the priests and turn around to return to Edmonton.

The fifth main character is certainly the geography of the Canadian North.  What impressed me was the absolute vastness of this region.  There's a map at the front of the book showing the route of the characters and the Great Bear River is this tiny little squiggle, maybe half an inch long.  Turns out, it takes Creed and Angituk 11 days to travel the length of this river.  It takes them 2 weeks to canoe across the Great Bear Lake. The little party has to stop and camp for several weeks because travelling through the snow and storms of winter would be impossible.  It's amazing that anyone could have traversed this geography and survived.  Of course, Creed learns from the Inuit how to survive: what to eat, what to wear,  how to build appropriate shelter. 

The second half of the book concerns itself with the trials of the hunters.  Here, several sub-plots unravel as well; Angituk's search for her white father (oh ya, that's a bit of a twist - Angi turns out to be a woman), a love triangle with Creed, Angi, and his very proper girlfriend, Nicole,  the mystery surrounding Creed's service in the army.

It's a good book, part adventure, part romance, part true-crime thriller.  The setting is not somewhere I know a lot about and it is certainly impressive. 

I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in those little stories in Canadian history that you never hear about but are fascinating nevertheless.