Consolation: A Novel

Michael Redhill
Little, Brown and Company (2007)
ISBN 0316734985
Reviewed by Joe Graham for Reader Views (2/07)

Michael Redhill’s “Consolation” is a fascinating story that switches from an excavation project in Toronto in 1997 to the developing city of Toronto in 1855.  David Hollis is a historian who believes that a sunken ship with photographic plates of early Toronto is waiting to be discovered under the streets of Toronto.  But his colleagues believe he is wrong and David, who is suffering from Lou Gehring’s disease, takes his life. His wife, Marianne, his daughter, Bridget and her fiancé, John try to come to grips with David’s death and the existence or non-existence of the photographic plates. Marianne moves into the Harbor Light Hotel where she can watch the excavations for the Union Arena in the area where David believes the ship went down.  Her obsession with that excavation puts a strain on her relationships with Bridget and John. But that is only half the story that Redhill has to tell.

Jem Hallam has come from England to try to set up a pharmacy business in the developing city of Toronto in 1855. His father is a druggist in England and the family hopes to expand their business interests. He is separated from his father, his brother and his young wife and two daughters.  Jem finds the loneliness and the weather of the new city hard to deal with. He also finds that he has a hard time breaking into a pharmacy business that is already controlled by another family. He meets Sam Ennis, a photographer and begins to develop an interest in photography.  With the help of Sam and Claudia Rowe, a model for Ennis, they begin to develop a photography business and they do a set of photos of Toronto as record of the developing city.

Redhill has created a fascinating study of two families interacting with life and facing some of the same decisions and dilemmas even though they are separated by over 100 years. When I was reading, I wanted to be in the present passages with Marianne as she watched the excavation, and I wondered along with Marianne if they would find anything and what they would do if they did find something. But I was also, eager to get back to the world of 1855 Toronto to see how Hallam was doing as he struggled to adapt in his new environment.

I would recommend “Consolation” to anyone that enjoys a mystery that is not a murder mystery. This book is more of a character study of the participants, Marianne, John, Bridget, Jem and Claudia, and how they react when faced with the unexpected challenges of life.  And of course, there is the mystery of the photographic plates, did they exist or not and will they be found or not.  And finally, the book is an examination of history and what it can say to us. David Hollis spends his life exploring the history of earlier residents of Toronto and he feels like their lives speak to us in the future. Does the past speak to us and what can it tell us? Read “Consolation” and see what Redhill and his characters think.

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