‘Solar Storms’ (1995), by Linda Hogan

« In a novel with the feel of a richly woven pattern, Linda Hogan tells the story of five generations of Native American women in the harsh landscape of the Boundary Waters between Canada and Minnesota. A story of love and family and a parable of the Native American quest to claim a lost way of life, ‘Solar Storms’ is a story of transformation and lyrical beauty. » (blurb on back cover)

The central figure, Angel, says: « Scars had shaped my life. I was marked and I knew the marks had something to do with my mother, who was said to be still in the North. While I never knew how I got the scars, I knew they were the reason I had been taken from my mother so many years before. »

A fascinating book! It is a ‘coming-of-age’ novel, but much more. The main themes are loss, loneliness, alienation, emptiness, the relationship of humans and nature, and the loss of spiritual values.

At the very centre of the book is the canoe journey: a compelling odyssey, a quest, a pilgrimage – striking out into the unknown, achieving self-discovery after a series of identity crises.

Music played:
1. ‘Indian Reservatioin’, Don Fardon
2. ‘Seminole Wind’, John Anderson
3. ‘Rocky Mountain High’, John Denver