Whole pages were devoted to you and your inauspicious birth’
Canadian author C.P. Hoff steps away from writing for newspapers into the arena of Novels. On her website she defines her series The Picaresque Narratives as ‘Downton Abbey for the Undiscriminating Reader.’ Her novels to date - WEST OF IRELAND, A TOWN CALLED FORGET, and now CANTERBERRY TALES. She is a founding member of WordBridge-Lethbridge Writers’ Conference.
Enhanced by the illustrations of Michelle Froese, Hoff’s flowing style attracts attention immediately, and the first character we encounter is Celia Canterberry as she describes herself (!) – ‘I had an unusual birthing, more so than any other kid in Happy Valley, but I had competition. On the first day of Grade One, Leonard Hoopenmire said he was born on the hottest day ever recorded in the history of recording hottest days. Bartholomew Dankworth bragged that he was born eleven months after his father died; his mother called it delayed gratification. According to Griggs, though, I surpassed them all, and unlike Leonard and Bartholomew, she’s known to be reliable. At the Sunday School Picnic, The Ladies of the Perpetual Indigence Society talked abut her dependability. Mrs. Whitford, easily recognized by her beehive hairdo and permanently puckered lips, dipped her spice cake into her black tea and said, “If you want to spread an unpleasantry around, Griggs is the man to do it,” I wanted to tell her Griggs wasn’t a man but knew she’d box my ears for eavesdropping….’ In that brief glimpse, Hoff manages to define a character, set an atmosphere, and give a hint of the story to come.
Explaining the content of this keenly crafted novel, the author’s summary is tightly drawn: ‘Pull up your knee socks and buckle your pinchy shoes, your childhood is calling. Celia Canterberry, a precocious seven-year-old, hell bent on saving earthworms, is about to drag you down memory lane and remind you what it was like to look at a careworn world with wide-eyed bemusement. Now take a deep breath. Smell that? Nostalgia. Celia flits through the streets of Happy Valley to her Nan’s chagrin, causing havoc wherever she goes. She’s so infamous, she’s got her own comic strip in the local paper, and Old Lady Griggs, her babysitter, is only too happy to read it with her. But what Celia secretly wants to know is where she came from. You see, Celia was abandoned at the hospital by her should-have-been parents, and her Nan won’t explain how or why… ’
Hoff’s gift of polished prose and superb dry humor make this a book impossible to resist. She just gets better with every novel she pens. No wonder she is winning awards! Highly recommended for that breath of fresh air we all need so desperately. Very highly recommended.
