Review: A Secret Close to Home by Ida Linehan Young
A multi-layered historical fiction novel.
Newfoundland’s Flanker Press produces books non-stop. They have no Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter publishing schedules that I can discern. They release dozens of new titles every year. As Newfoundland’s largest press, they produce both Fiction and Non-fiction titles, all pertaining to Newfoundland & Labrador. I know of no other provincial publisher that is so focused on publishing the authors within its borders.
Flankers’ “Big Three” authors are (in no particular order), Helen C. Escott, Gary Collins, and Ida Linehan Young. They are unstoppable yet manage to write engaging novels and NF titles alike. A Secret Close to Home is no exception, I am happy to say. I was disappointed by Ms. Linehan Young’s last novel The Room Upstairs, in which she ventured into the speculative fiction genre, so I was happy that she returned to writing a historical novel in the vein of her “Mary Ro” series. That's her strong suit.
Synopsis
It’s 1906 and fifteen-year-old Jimmy Bailor has been beached by his mean-spirited father William on a remote part of the Newfoundland coast to “make him a man” as Jimmy has no interest in fishing, his father’s occupation. He knows his father will eventually come and get him, but after several days, that doesn’t seem to be the case, so he tries to survive as best he can. Meanwhile, his father’s fishing boat, the Annie May, turns up in Juniper Tickle bereft of its crew. The White family (the only inhabitants of Juniper Tickle) claim the boat as salvage. However, a constable, alerted by Jimmy’s mother to his and his father’s disappearance, comes nosing around and assumes that the White’s father and his two sons must have murdered the crew to claim the boat and are dragged off to St. John’s. This leaves seventeen-year-old Flory and her pregnant sister-in-law Lizzy, along with her two-year-old son Bobby alone to cope over the coming winter. Then the castaway Jimmy Bailor turns up, half dead and needing food and clothing.
Several men lifted Bart to his feet and escorted all three White men away from Juniper Tickle. Flory collapsed on the step with Lizzy beside her and Bobby between them. They all cried in unison. They had no idea where their family would be taken, when they would be back, nor what they would do without them. Soon, Bobby complained he was cold and hungry, and they went inside.
Ms. Linehan Young wastes no time in creating the tension necessary for a good novel. There’s the castaway Jimmy (will he survive?), the mystery of the missing crew of the Annie May, the murder investigation, and lastly, the ability of two young women to cope in winter without the men to supply food, chop wood and tend to the animals. Oh, and Lizzy’s pregnancy! There may appear to be a lot going on, but Ms. Linehan Young balances out the story and allows it to unfold masterfully. The pages practically turn themselves!
While it may be considered a ‘fast’ read, A Secret Close to Home is not a dialogue-heavy story. It contains a rich narrative of the hardscrabble lives of the inhabitants of England’s poorest colony. Her characters, especially Jimmy, Flory, and Lizzy are well-developed. Particularly, the pasts that each is trying to overcome.
A Secret Close to Home will be a bestseller for Flanker Press and Ms. Linehan Young. Historical fiction fans will love it.
Ida Linehan Young became serious about her writing with a story to tell, and that led to her memoir, No Turning Back: Surviving the Linehan Family Tragedy, in 2014. Having found a passion for writing, and with a love of local history and lore, she published four works of historical fiction: Being Mary Ro (2018), The Promise (2019), The Liars (2020), and The Stolen Ones (2021). In 2023, Ida published her first work of speculative fiction, The Room Upstairs, which appeared on the Atlantic Books Today bestsellers list. You can find my reviews of many of Ms. Linehan Young’s novels here, in The Miramichi Reader archives.
Publisher : Flanker Press (April 26 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 278 pages
ISBN-10 : 1774571927
ISBN-13 : 978-1774571927