Magdalena’s Song
It is the fall of 1947 in the small Saugeen industrial village of Millbrook. Men have returned home from the war to work at the Factory, the only source of employment in this company town. Pay is low, and relationships are strained. Over the course of 12 days in autumn, the mysterious Count Daniel Vincent Cudzinski arrives and changes Millbrook. Who is the Count? Is he a smooth impostor or the spirit of a long-dead gypsy? Is he there to bring down the man who runs the town, or is he a ghost striving to reunite with his one true love? Though most of the events are seen through Daniel’s eyes, he manages to keep his secrets; what he does do is reveal the various secrets of the inhabitants of the small Ontario village.
This book is relatively short for the amount of material it covers; a few subplots felt underdeveloped and were perfunctorily handled. With the introduction of the Kumpania, a band of travelling Roma, the story finds its pace, and the use of Roma words throughout adds a nice flavour to the mystery. Mestern’s works are apparently sometimes used as tour guides for Southern Ontario; her love of this setting is evident in her writing. Although some of the plot elements and characters are predictable (the revelation of the ‘toughest poker player around’, for example, was no surprise to me, and some of the subplot resolutions were expected), I felt a great deal of sympathy for Daniel and Theresa Inachio, a woman with her own secret sorrows. This is an engaging and thoughtful read for a quiet afternoon.
