Tell

Grania O’Neill #2

by Frances Itani

The bestselling author of the award-winning international sensation Deafening returns to the period following the First World War with a tour de force-an extraordinary novel of secrets withheld and secrets revealed.

In 1919, only months after the end of the Great War, the men and women of Deseronto struggle to recover from wounds of the past, both visible and hidden. Kenan, a young soldier who has returned from the war damaged and disfigured, confines himself to his small house on the Bay of Quinte, wandering outside only under the cover of night. His wife, Tress, attempting to adjust to the trauma that overwhelms her husband and which has changed their marriage, seeks advice from her Aunt Maggie. Maggie, along with her husband, Am, who cares for the town clock tower, have their own sorrows, which lie unacknowledged between them. Maggie finds joy in her friendship with a local widow and in the Choral Society started by Lukas, a Music Director who has moved to the town from an unknown place in war-torn Europe. While rehearsing and performing, Maggie rediscovers a part of herself that she had long set aside. As the decade draws to a close and the lives of these beautifully-drawn characters become more entwined, each of them must decide what to share and what to hide, and how their actions will lead them into the future.

With the narrative power and writerly grace for which she is celebrated, Frances Itani has crafted a deeply moving, emotionally rich story about the burdens of the past. She shows us how, ultimately, the very secrets we bury to protect ourselves can also be the cause of our undoing. Tell is stunning achievement. g.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Canada, War, Book Club, World War I, Historical

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Frances Susan Itani is a Canadian fiction writer, poet and essayist.

Itani was born in Belleville, Ontario and grew up in Quebec. She studied nursing in Montreal and North Carolina, a profession which she taught and practised for eight years. However, after enrolling in a writing class taught by W. O. Mitchell, she decided to change careers.

Itani has published ten books, ranging from fiction and poetry to a children's book. Her 2003 novel Deafening, published in 16 countries, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Canada and Caribbean Region) and the Drummer General’s Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her short story collection, Poached Egg on Toast, won the Ottawa Book Award and the CAA Jubilee Award for Best Collection of Stories. She was recently awarded the Order of Canada. Frances Itani lives in Ottawa.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

To sum up in one word -- BORING! Because this book was on a bunch of lists this year, I expected it to be pretty good. And kept expecting that it would improve as I got further along. Sadly, neither was the case. It started off slowly and more or less petered out. I really don't understand how it got any good press at all. The characters were dull, the story (such as it was) dragged on and on and got nowhere. When I was bogged down, I did check Goodreads to see if I was alone -- and with the mention of some big 'surprise' near the end, I soldiered on (ha ha -- a little reference to the book!). Unfortunately, it wasn't a huge surprise, it wasn't particularly interesting, and it wasn't worth waiting for.

Avoid this book. Unless you need to be put to sleep for surgery or something like that.

[Steven Langdon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canada in 2014 has seen a large number of events marking the start of World War One, far too many of them in my view aimed at conveying pride in Canada's participation, despite the tens of thousands of our citizens killed and the many wounded in a war which settled little and led to even more devastating conflict just 21 years later. This fine novel by Frances Itani, "Tell," provides a much more appropriate perspective, probing beautifully the harsh impact of World War One on Canadian soldiers and their families.

Itani is a well-established author, but this novel is especially good and has been nominated for the 2014 Giller Prize, along with five others. All these books this year are marked by a social and political relevance that is unusual for English Canadian fiction. The six as a whole provide insights into mental illness, the abuse of human rights, the devastations of war and terrorism, and the realities of poverty.

"Tell" is particularly powerful in its examination of the effects of war. The account it presents is constrained geographically, confined mostly to the small town of Deseronto just by Lake Ontario. A wounded soldier, Kenan Oak, returns from World War One to face the difficult task of readjusting to his marriage and his family -- but on this small canvass a deeply emotional though fundamentally simple story plays out. The relationships that Itani traces interact with intricate subtlety and an intensity that builds powerfully but slowly for the reader. Kenan's memory and changed ties convey the devastation of the war, the destruction of illusions about heroism in battle, and also the potential about links with others rebuilding life. Itani is also especially compelling in her accounts of women taking more control of their own lives in this context of social change.

This is the first of Itani's books that I have read, and I am deeply impressed. More of her novels will certainly be on my "To Read" list.

[Friederike Knabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frances Itani's recent novel, Tell, takes the reader back to the end of World War I and the last months of 1919. A young soldier, wounded and just released from medical treatment in England, comes home to his young wife and to the house he had never before seen from the inside. How to return to a life of innocence and peace after what he has experienced? Frances Itani delved into a theme that has not lost its power and relevance since then. Many soldiers and their loved ones have suffered from what we now refer to as "post-traumatic stress disorder".

The story is set in the small town of Desoronto, Ontario, that had been at the centre at her award-winning 2003 novel, Deafening. Since then, Itani has gained recognition and praise for her ability to capture with great sensitivity an individual's psychological struggles to overcome physical and emotional scars and trauma. Readers of the earlier novel will no doubt be familiar with both the place and quite a few of the protagonists. When asked during an interview about her motivations for the new book, Ms Itani explained that she was "...not entirely finished with minor characters from my earlier novel, Deafening, who had stories of their own to tell". While Tell is a self-contained novel that does not require the background of the earlier one, I personally found that being aware of the other members of the close knit community and their backstories would most likely enrich the reading experience and understanding of the central characters in Tell.

The storyline evolves primarily around two couples, Kenan and Tress and her aunt and uncle, Maggie and Am. Kenan, the young soldier, is deeply wounded in body and soul: one side of his face his scarred; he has lost the use of one eye and one arm. He has withdrawn from family and friends and for a time even refuses to leave the house. Tress has anxiously awaited her husband's return and now needs all her patience to relate to Kenan and to support him as best she can. Trying to understand Kenan's silence on the one hand and attempting to slowly and gently rebuild their intimate relationship places a heavy burden on the young woman. She loves her husband deeply and had hoped that they could restart their lives and think of a family. She thought she knew Kenan well. But, never having been much of a talker, he holds his thoughts and emotions deeply buried in his mind. Vivid memories of scenes in the trenches disrupt his sleep. How can anybody understand what he continues to go through? It seems his only contact with the outside world that he enjoys is the exchange of letters with one of his friends from the front.

The character of Kenan is finely drawn and his slow recovery feels totally authentic. In time, Kenan quietly leaves the house at night, unbeknownst to Tress, to wander through the woods away from the town. He needs the solitude in nature. Itani's account of these nightly wanderings is beautifully rendered. You can literally take a deep sigh of relief with Kenan. "His right hand made a sign, a word. A finger to his lips and back to his chest. Tell, it seems to be saying, but the word was directed at himself. It was his private communication: Tell."

Tress seems to be a competent and kind person, but to me she seems stay in the background, as a lesser developed character. She needs help and seeks advice and solace in the company of her aunt Maggie, who she has been close to since her childhood. Maggie, however, has her own, long buried, scars that she cannot share and that has led to strains in her own marriage to Am. Am does suffer from the silence in the home and feels drawn to Kenan. Maybe the two men can help each other. Itani captures the emotional struggles that Kenan and – for different reasons – Am go through with great empathy and sensitivity. The silence between them slowly melts as Kenan increasingly regains his confidence in skating on the near-by rink, at night. The enjoyment of the sport they both love relaxes them and helps them to open up to each other and the reader will finally learn more about some of the long held secrets.

Desoronto's close knit community is shaken out of their passive acceptance of day-to-day reality by two outsiders: the lively and energetic Zel, who opens a boarding house in the woods nearby, and the new choirmaster Lukas, a refugee from Europe who may or may not stay in Desoronto. Zel is like balm for Maggie's soul. The two become close friends. Under Lukas' guidance Maggie rediscovers her love for music and her talent for singing. And, as can be guessed, music has additional healing powers that bring Maggie to a new realization of herself and her ambitions for her life. Suffice to add that like all relationships that Itani develops in the novel the new friendship between Maggie and the two newcomers are handled with kindness and subtlety. But their impacts not only on Maggie are long lasting.

Interestingly, Frances Itani opens her novel with a short chapter that describes a scene, set one year later than the rest of the novel. It is intriguing as the reader wonders about the meaning, the individuals involved, etc. I am not sure that this was the most successful way of tackling another major theme that interests the author in her novel, that of abandonment and adoption of an infant. The novel will not appeal to every reader. Itani's writing is detailed and descriptive, at times possibly a bit on the slow side. The ending felt a bit rushed and unsatisfactory as the beginning and the end were tied together rather superficially.

[Deanna McFadden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impeccably researched, and so well written--a continuation of the world Itani created for her award-winning DEAFENING, TELL follows the life of Grania's sister, Tress, and her husband Kenan, who has just returned, definitely not in one piece, from the front lines of the First World War.

It's a slow moving novel, in that much of it takes place after the action of the war, and is about Kenan dealing with being home. The idea that the homefront was as much as a battle as the battle itself was a reassuring theme throughout, and watching as Kenan navigates his return to life was one of the best parts of this novel.

The complementary story of Tress's aunt Maggie was no less effective--her own struggles of middle age, the issues that arise from an enduring marriage, and how the undercurrents of tragedy will eventually boil up to the surface.

This is an utterly readable novel, charming yet distilled, and I found it to be the perfect companion on my commute.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

He relaxed, leaned against the boards of the old barn and closed his good eye. His right hand made a sign, a word. A finger to his lips and back to his chest. Tell, it seemed to be saying, but the word was directed at himself. It was his private communication: Tell.

It is November of 1919 when we first meet Kenan Oak: Armistice has been declared, and although the injured young man has been home from WWI for a year, he is just taking his first tentative steps towards healing, supported by his wife and family in the tight-knit community of Deseronto, Ontario. The left side of his face is scarred and sightless, his left arm hangs dead and useless at his side, and shell-shocked, Kenan was literally unable to speak when he first returned from Europe. After spending a year locked away inside his home, most often looking out over the nearby bay from his veranda seat, Kenan begins to speak with the few visitors he will agree to see, and at night when he's sure the streets will be empty, Kenan begins to go for walks. Still haunted by his wartime experiences, and finding themselves unable to conceive a child, Kenan finds an unbridgeable rift growing between himself and his wife Tress.

Meanwhile, Tress' Aunt Maggie and Uncle Am -- who live in an apartment in the Post Office clock tower and act as the building's caretakers -- also find themselves growing farther apart as they approach middle age. It is eventually revealed that they have been suppressing secrets of their own, and when a handsome foreigner comes to town offering music lessons, more than a long-buried love of singing is reawakened in Maggie.

Tell is essentially about the harm that is caused by secrets and suppressed memories. It's unsurprising that author Frances Itani chose to explore these ideas in this time and place: a small town at the turn of the twentieth century put plenty of pressure on families to hide their shameful skeletons; put plenty of pressure on returning soldiers to deal with their problems alone. The very first scene of the book has a woman giving her baby up for adoption and we later learn that Kenan had been adopted as an infant himself, and because of the stern home atmosphere created by the single man (Uncle Oak) who had taken him in, Kenan had never dared to ask any questions about his birth mother.

Oddly, for a book about memory, characters are always questioning what they remember. Here's Kenan on the war:

And now in his Deseronto house, every inch of which he'd explored with his good eye opened and his good eye closed, he wondered if he had invented the memories of more than three and a half years of war. Memories of staring up into night skies, expecting the stars to explode. Waking up with dew dampening his uniform, puttees tightening around his lower legs. Standing in wisps of fog that rolled low along the ground in the mornings, so that in every direction, only heads and torsos could be seen above the mist, while legless men called back and forth to one another as they shaved and laughed and groused and swore, and prepared to fill their mess tins for breakfast.
He might have invented those memories, but he had not invented the war.

Here's Maggie on meeting a famous soprano (a story she never told to anyone):

Perhaps the encounter had never taken place. No, Maggie was certain it had.

And here's Am:

Memory. It whipped him around in all directions. And who was he to say whether his memories were accurate or not? He never knew what would be laid bare.

Secrets and memory could have been very interesting themes, but I found this book a little scattered; like the parts didn't hang together. Characters are always reminiscing -- about making grape jelly, or skating from Deseronto to Nappanee, or living on a chicken farm but only being allowed an egg once a year at Easter -- and while each little story was interesting, they felt like true anecdotes that Itani had collected about the time period that she wanted to cram in for authenticity; they were simply not revealed organically. Another example: There is a skating rink cleared on the ice behind Kenan's house, and although some action takes place there, it seems like it was used in the book solely because Itani includes excerpts from the archives of the Deseronto newspaper that described the skating rink (and suggest the action that should be placed there). Also, I thought that the apartment that Maggie and Am lived in in the Deseronto clock tower was a really fascinating detail until I learned that Itani's great-great-aunt and -uncle had once been its inhabitants -- Tell feels more like overwrought journalism than prose. And a final complaint: it felt so unbelievable that Am and Maggie, having kept a secret for 25 years -- a (totally not shameful) secret that all of Deseronto had apparently colluded in suppressing -- would both break down and tell it to someone, separately, on the same day. Adding improbability to slow and clunky writing resulted in a bit of a turkey for me, and a curious choice for this year's Giller Prize shortlist.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel grows out of, but is not a sequel to Itani’s award winning novel “Deafening” (2003). That novel, set at the beginning of World War 1, told the story of Grania O’Neil, who lost her hearing after a bout of scarlet fever when she was five and her new husband, who survived the horrors of the war on the Belgium front. It explored themes of love, identity and the resilience required to face the challenge of devastating loss. This book explores similar themes and returns to the small Ontario town of Deseronto located between Kingston and Belleville, pulling characters from "Deafening" to begin a new narrative. The stories of Tress and Kenan Oak and Maggie O’Neill and her husband Am form the core of the book.

It is 1919, and people in this small town are still struggling to make a life after they lost sons, brothers and husbands on the battlefields. Many who returned from the war were damaged physically and mentally by events overseas. Kenan Oak is one of those men, the husband of Grania’s sister Tress. In 1914 at the age of twenty, he volunteered to go to war and returned from France with devastating injuries. Wounded by shrapnel, he has one left arm that hangs uselessly by his side and from which he has no feeling and only one eye he can see from. His face is a mess of scars. Since his return, Keenan has remained isolated in his home, never venturing out and letting only his adoptive father, his wife Tress and Tress’s Aunt Maggie and Uncle Am to see him. He has chosen to stay in his house until he is ready to leave. His condition is such, that no one pushes him.

Kenan and his wife are struggling to reestablish their married life, but there is little conversation between them. Tress desperately wants to bring him back from the darkness that hangs over him, trying to be patient and give him time to heal. But she is frustrated and impatient with his progress. She is trying to accept what he has become and what she has become in response, but her spirit is flagging as are her efforts. The couple would desperately like to have a child, but so far their attempts to conceive have failed and there is no explanation for it.

Itani describes Kenan’s shell shock, a condition today known as PTSD, with its never ending flashbacks, hallucinations, depression and the anxiety he experiences as he sits day after day watching activity on the Bay of Quinte. He is entertained by the water traffic, watching the fishermen, the pleasure craft, the row boats and the canoes. As it becomes colder and he watches the annual resurrection of the skating rink, he begins to reminisce about his time skating as a boy. The rink is one familiar thing that has not been affected by the war and becomes a key to his reawakening.

Kenan receives a letter from Hugh one of his fellow soldiers from P.E.I. who was with him in the trenches. Hugh is recovering in a sanatorium and suggests they reconnect when he completes his treatment from tuberculosis. Like Kenan he is isolated, forced to rest in bed to recover from his illness. The two exchange stories about the random carnage on the battlefields and in the trenches where there was no logical explanation for who walked away, who returned home and who just vanished into the landscape.

Another story unfolds parallel to that of Kenan and Tress. It is the story of her Aunt Maggie and Uncle Am whose relationship is struggling. A tragedy in their early married life marked them both. Undone by their grief, they agreed to bury it with their past life on the farm and move to the city to begin a new life. But that secret kept hidden for so many years has left something behind. It has become a festering wound that has created a rift in their relationship and continues to grow wider and deeper with each passing year, slowly chipping away at their sense of togetherness and driving them apart. There remains little connection between them. They cannot even enjoy a comfortable silence, instead the quiet is fraught with a hovering tension. Am desperately wants to talk to Maggie about the past. He realizes now that it was a mistake to live with a sorrow pushed down and hidden instead of living with it, talking about it and trying to make things better. At one time, their vow to secrecy had helped keep them together, now it is driving them apart. But Am remains silent and spends most of his time in the clock tower above their tiny apartment, keeping busy.

Maggie dreamed of a singing career but has had to be content with participating in the church choir. She has always had an intense connection to music which made her happy. When the new choir director Lukas Sebastian, a voice teacher with a quiet passion for music arrives from Europe to take the position of choir director, her love of music is once again awakened. Lukas challenges her to sing a solo for the Xmas concert and although it scares her, it also stirs her long buried need for a personal connection in a life that has been devoid of emotional feeling for many years. Her musical performance becomes a cathartic beginning that releases a hurt that has been locked away and begins a chain of events that both frees and devastates her.

A sub plot involving Kenan’s birth and adoption by a quiet, taciturn welder begins with a photo his adoptive father brings him and gives Kenan the courage to ask about his birth mother. That leads to questions that have puzzled him and answers he would never have believed possible.

While Itani’s novel “Deafening” brought readers face to face with violent scenes from the battlefields, this novel deals more with the difficulties soldiers faced when they returned home to their families. Itani explores the debilitating physical injuries these men suffered with the equally painful mental images they carried in their memories. The character of Kenan and his friend Hugh beautifully illustrate different aspects of this theme. Hugh has little outward signs of his experience but his mind is locked with battlefield images. Kenan, on the other hand is so physically disfigured he has trouble reconnecting with the life he once knew, his injuries the outward sign of a scarred and wounded soul.

Itani shows how Kenan finally makes a breakthrough to establishing a new life when after a year of confinement, he takes his first tentative steps on the skating rink that was always a source of enjoyment for him before the war. He does so under cover of dark, taking the first steps on his journey to connect once again with his community and practicing for the day he will be able to skate in daylight. It is difficult to read how he painfully laces up his skates with one hand, a passage beautifully and movingly described by Itani. It is a grim reminder of the cost of his lost limb.

The landscape is an important part of the narrative as Itani portrays life in small town Ontario after the war, filling her narrative with the important details that lend it authenticity to time and place. Her meticulous research shows in those small important details such as the recipe for Maggie’s soup, her home remedies for illness of the day, the do-it-yourself Christmas gifts people fashioned from whatever sparse materials were available to the furs and muffs women wore as they skated on the Bay. She also includes fragments of articles from the Deseronto Post with its mix of local reports, gossip, advertisements and comments on world events. Even Kenan’s litany of products available at the local drugstore where he balances the books reflects the times. And the characters quirky names, Tress, Oak, Am and Zel must surely come from the past as well.

This is a story which describes what happens when people do not say the things they want to say, letting time pass, memories fester and leaving loneliness in its wake. Keeping secrets was a way of life that reflected the times, when difficult events were hidden and a community colluded to enact a vow of silence over illegitimate children, unfaithful spouses, mental illness and domestic violence, things considered unmentionable. The title is a clarion call to “tell” rather than keep the past hidden, to share stories that really should be told. Itani’s narrative warns of the dangers of burying them or pushing them away because they always seem to find a way to haunt those who would not face them, appearing at a later time in their lives.

This is a well written story with beautiful understated language. However I found the pacing difficult. The narrative was bookended by a very slow start and an abrupt conclusion with secrets revealed on New Year’s Eve and coming before readers are ready for them. One of those secrets many probably expected while two others are not. There are so many unanswered questions with the sad and unsettling ending and so much more could have been explored before things were brought to a conclusion, with a marriage forever damaged and an unexpected and life changing gift arriving and thankfully received.

This novel was short listed for the prestigious Giller prize in 2014, a notable achievement.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 - This is a novel of strong characters, a remarkably rich and complex plot and lyrical and spare prose. The story is set in a small Ontario town on the shores of Lake Ontario near the end of 1919. The book centers around young Kenan who has recently returned from hospital in Europe where he was sent to recover from catastrophic wounds he received in the Great War. Kenan's adjustment to his life after the horrors he experienced at the front and while trying to come to grips with his new reality is so very typical of what soldiers very often experience after the terrible things they've endured and witnessed in war. He is damaged and disfigured from the wounds he received, and he realizes with terrible clarity that life will never be the same for him. Kenan tries to adjust to life back in his hometown with his new wife whom he barely had time to know before he went off to war. With the help of Tress, his wife, and his uncle and aunt Am and Maggie who have lost their own way because of their own secrets, he manages to slowly reestablish himself in his small community. We see how long buried secrets and the consequences of keeping these secrets from the light of day, unacknowledged and unresolved, can destroy our lives. Ms. Itani's lyrical prose and total understanding of human nature is nothing short of remarkable. Her prose is spare and devastatingly descriptive. The story unfolds through Kenan's memories of the war as a constant backdrop. This is another worthy contender as a shortlisted novel for the Giller Prize.

[Tracee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why does it take so many words to hardly say anything?

There was no story here.

The only character with a remotely interesting life was the soldier who'd recently returned from the battlefield but alas, his story went nowhere.

I mean, why write an entire book if you've got nothing to say?

#sorrynotsory

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely story. Quiet and unassuming and simply lovely.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 review to follow.

[CynthiaA · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a beautifully written book about how trauma impacts relationships. It was focussed primarily on 2 couples, the younger couple, Tress and Kenan, are failing with Kenan’s PTSD as he has just returned from the WWI trenches. The older couple, Maggie and Am, are dealing with their own secret trauma — and the secret of it makes it all the more traumatic. Character driven with gentle prose, this Giller nominated novel has lessons within its pages. But it is slow-going and requires patience to find them.

[Anne Michaud · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little slow for me, though it did a very good job of illustrating the machinations of everyday life.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Deafening and this is just as wonderful.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poignant novel about the devastating effect World War I had on the inhabitants of a small town in Canada right after the war, particularly in the lives of one couple: Tress and Kenan, who returned from the war shell-shocked with the loss of his left eye and his left arm and hand rendered useless. Because of the trauma and struggling to regain their love and acceptance, their marriage falls into a shadow of its former self. Little by little Kenan comes out of his shell, leaving home at night and skating on the town ice rink. The marriage of another couple, Tress's Aunt Maggie and Uncle Am is also unravelling--the reason happened years before and has led to silence, sorrow and emotional distance on both sides. Maggie finds refuge in music, culminating in a gala Christmas concert and its aftermath. Tress and Kenan now have their own secret at novel's end.

The author's prose was graceful and the story mesmerizing. Each word was well chosen; I felt the story was a labor of love. I liked how Maggie's chance meeting and conversation with Nellie Melba, the opera diva, was worked into the story. Also, I liked the device of the newspaper articles, which more and more towards the end, reflected some of the action of the story. I liked how the close-knit family members were presented. Itani's descriptions of the Canadian winter and the ice rink were vivid. Although I had expected a Canadian Winesburg, Ohio-type book of sketches of different townspeople, I was quite pleased with Ms. Itani's novel. The ending was more than satisfactory, but I thought it a little rushed after the excellent pacing previously. Although this novel is a follow-up to Deafening, which concerns Tress and her deaf sister, Grania, this book can be read without reading the original previously.

Many thanks to Goodreads First Reads for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Ted Dettweiler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like small-town Ontario stories and I like history. This book lays out the life of Kenan, and those he is connected with, after the "World's Great Struggle". Kenan has returned to Deseronto, Ontario physically and emotionally damaged and disfigured to resume life there with his wife. A skating rink is built by the townspeople on Lake Ontario as soon as the cold sets in and the rink figures prominently in the story along with a clock tower in the center of town where Am, the keeper of the clockworks and his wife Maggie live. All the main characters are dealing with loss in one form or the other and yet it is not a particularly depressing read. There is a snow wall amassed on the far edge of the cleared rink to keep skaters from venturing further onto the uncertain ice of the bay. This snow wall represents much more than simple deposits of snow in this novel. If I was studying this novel in Grade 11 English class (and I do think this novel rates study) I'm sure one of the essay questions concerning the novel would be something like "What does the snow wall represent in the life of this small town?".

Frances Itani has accomplished a masterful work with this novel. I would never have discovered this author if I had not set out to read through the alphabet in 2013 and happily chose Leaning, Leaning Over Water. I will be returning to the "I" section of my library and exploring more of her 10 novels. I also have decided to finish off the alphabet in 2015 (got somewhere around "O" or "P" by the end of 2013) as well as read more history and autobiography, which was 2014's reading focus.

To the library!

[Susan Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment!

The book takes place in a small town in Ontario post WW1. It's what I call a quiet book. It follows the lives of a few main characters as one of them in particular is adjusting to post-war life, having served at the front and been wounded.

The writing is good, her research seems to have been OK. I was reading it - not entirely captivated, just sort of slogging along.

One of the couples obviously has something wrong in their relationship. Something has happened to damage them, but we don't know what it is until near the end of the book. We guess it is some secret, we just don't know what.

Then, voila, the secret is revealed and I sat back and simply said "you've got to be kidding. THAT was the secret?". It is so unbelievably unbelievable. I have lived in a small town. That type of "secret" would NEVER be a secret. Who is she kidding? Good grief, someone could fart in a small town and everyone would know it. But this secret? Sorry, I am not saying small town folks are gossips - they do certainly exchange information and this secret would never be kept as a secret.

So the book for me at that point was a write-off. I read to the end - no I skimmed to the end, mumbling "good grief" a number of times as the rest of the story unfolded.

So disappointed.

[Kristel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't like this book all that much and I can't even really say why. I think maybe a lot of it just felt superficial to me - it skimmed the surface of what happens when we keep secrets, what happens when we go through traumatic events and don't deal with it. But most of what happens in this book could have happened for reasons outside of the keeping of secrets. I don't know. Why do long time married couples cheat? Well, surely it *must* be because they lost their children 20 years ago and never spoke of it again. Couldn't possibly be that they're exited by the prospect of someone new, someone who intersects with a different, important part of someone's life. I think I sort of felt like Itani found the quotation she used for the epigraph and then built a book around the idea without making sure that it actually made sense.

On a more superficial level, I really hated the names Itani used throughout the book. I am the first to admit I know nothing about naming conventions in small town Ontario is the late 1800s-1920, but we've got: Tress, Zel, Hanora (mentioned in passing), Breeda (mentioned in passing), Grania, Kenan, Am. It just grated.

[Terry M · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the start of this novel I thought the pace was too slow and the plot too soft. Then I took a deep breathe, calmed down, and moved into small town Ontario 1919. So glad I did. The novel explored the emotional struggles of some very average people dealing with PTSD, marriage issues, grief, love and loneliness. The culture of the day encouraged reserve, dignity and always a respectable front. 'Telling' or sharing personal pain was not encouraged. And secrets were buried. The novel's characters were tenderly portrayed and the story moving. For me - another Frances Itani winner!

[Tanya Wiles-bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the richness of Itani's writing. Her attention to detail is delightful and conjures up wonderful images of a time gone by. Tell, set in the months following WWI, tells the story of two couples dealing with intense sorrow and loss. I especially enjoyed the various letters that are sprinkled throughout the story. It seems as if letter writing is quickly becoming a lost art and Itani reminds us that sometimes, when it comes to people we love and care about, a letter can give one something tangible to hang on to; letters can offer comfort and hope.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a skillfully written story of lives in post war, small town rural Ontario. A year of lives burdened with the weight of things suffered, great sorrows and tragic losses and horrors experienced and buried ~ in the ground, in memories of the past, in the dark places of the mind ~ stuffed, hidden needing to be expressed . . . but not willing or able to be shared. This is a story of what happens when we do not Tell and the silence builds walls that divide and the growing need to share our pain creates unexpected allies.
Deep and thoughtful, this book was a good read.

[Erin Kernohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet and gentle story about something that is neither quiet or gentle. Itani deftly weaves a story about two couples, each dealing with their own personal tragedies and the secrets which burden them. This novel will appeal especially to people who find themselves in genealogy libraries and pouring over old community newspapers and who will enjoy the detailed descriptions of post-WWI life in Ontario. 4/5

[Kristine Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Love that it took place in Deseronto, a town west of Napanee. Very melancholy though. I was reluctant to read the last 30 pages because I knew they were going to be disheartening. I'm finding it harder with today's contemporary writing to read books that take place in the past. This book did not feel like 1920. Or maybe I just can't put myself there. It's hard to place yourself in a world that is less and less real.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I've ever read that got into the head of a maimed WW1 survivor. Itani makes the characters real in a way I haven't encountered before. Not a heart-warming, cozy type of story, but excellent story-telling.

[Ming · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok but a disappointing followup to Deafening. This book felt too clinical, the emotions flat and distant.

I had the sense that it was just wounded people hurting and wallowing in their sorrow. No satisfying resolution occurs.

[wvreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Step into small town Desoronto to meet members of a family who struggle to move forward with their lives after leaving behind tragic experiences. A powerful story filled with rich characters whose unspoken pasts leave telling marks on their present lives.

[Larissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up in Deseronto where this book is set, so I really wanted to like it. However I get the impression the author got caught up in describing the town and sacrificed the plot to do so. I'll give her points for vivid imagery but the absence of storytelling made this a hard slog to get through.

[Kathy Stinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally believable characters your heart breaks for. I loved them all and I love FI's writing and her ability to tell a good story. Great book.

[Anne Marriott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book by Francis Itani exploring the relationships between people.

[Jmolentin]

Love reading about small town life in Canada. I was hesitant to read the book, because of the WWI connection, but hey, it's a Canadian author so no chest thumping.