REVIEW
The Tinsmith – Tim Bowling (Brindle & Glass)
First we have to own up to a
major faux pas from last issue’s book review. As several readers correctly pointed out, I was wrong in identifying Sir Francis Chichester as the first man to sail alone around the world. Joshua Slocum did it about 80 years prior, albeit over three years and with numerous stops. Can’t take away from the feat though, and I’m kicking myself for the brain cramp. I knew this – his account called Alone Around The World is another classic of maritime writing and a favourite read of my brother-in- law. Aaargh……Enough about that screw-up though, let’s move on. Edmonton-based writer
Tim Bowling’s The Tinsmith is a bit deceptive in its title (little tinsmithing here) but harrowing and
It’s Grilling
BOOK
powerful in its conception and scope. Spanning two distinct time periods and settings, the novel begins in the blood, guts and grime of the battle of Antietam. The slaughter incurred on the bloodiest day of the Civil War – over 20,000 killed on both sides with no victor – is vividly lived by the two main protagonists. Anson Baird is a surgeon on
the Union side working amidst the horrors of post-battle. He does what he can in the face of overwhelming, relentless casualties and horrific working conditions. Providing chloroform or whisky while endlessly amputating limbs, saving those who can be saved, he is a mortal, righteous man in the midst of hell. In the aftermath of the bloodbath,
he perceives then recognizes repeated assistance by one man who selflessly and continually brings in the wounded and maimed, and who assists in the grim task that is Baird’s awful job. The two strike a strange, muted camaraderie in the midst of
the carnage, working collectively to aid the wounded among the socialite onlookers, the embalmers, the photographers – all the ghouls who populate the battlefield at day’s end. John, an escaped slave, has a
very different reason for being there as we later find out. Recognizing his status along with an intrinsic quality, and given his ability to provide the fair-skinned John with a proper chance at life, Baird gives him a new identity taken from a dead Union soldier (Dare) and returns to the ceaseless work of the dying and wounded. Twenty years on, far from the
slaughter in Maryland, Baird gets a cryptic note from Dare asking for assistance. Now living on the wild west coast of British Columbia,
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