It began in a chicken coop and ended on…..well, all I’ll say is the end satisfied me. Hope had all but been dashed, ground down, into the dirt of bare existence. Three generations of women, each one forced into lives not of their choosing, survived with the rigid support of each other. Alberta author, Barbara Joan Scott, has told a truly Canadian story. On the prairies, the reality of the 1920’s on the land and into the 1940’s, in small town Saskatchewan, was real, stark and brutal. Ukrainian immigration to Canada in the 20’s was part of the second wave of Ukrainian immigration. These families were not always treated kindly by some Canadians. The characters of this story suffered this very unkind fate.
Taras, a Ukrainian immigrant and a man of 30, was rough and a womanizer, who thought more of himself than many others did. Also Ukrainian, the women, Vavara, Olena and June had buried their hopes, desires and secrets so deeply that they were almost caricatures of who they wanted to be. Who they could have been. The poverty, scarcity of the war years, and the iron fisted manner that women were still relegated to stirred my anger almost past boiling point. Varava, the eldest, had long ago resigned herself to her fate - living with her brother on a barely operational farm. Olena, her niece, was forced into marriage at 15 to Taras who she resented almost to the end. June, Olena’s daughter, only knew the love of her father, Taras and her sister, May. The two girls seemed to only have each other. Unfortunately, they were separated when June developed TB and was taken to the sanatarium at Fort San, just outside of Fort Qu’appelle for seven years. May assimilated, erasing her Ukrainian heritage as best she could, into their community until tragedy struck.
From beginning to end, woven through the story is the tale of Baba Yaga, an evil and vicious witch who terrifies children. The Taste of Hunger envelops this tale of Slavic origins. So you may ask, why did I continue reading it? There were times when I wondered that myself. The writing was excellent, but more than that I was inside the lives of the characters. I wanted to know. I wanted to find the humanity of their lives. This book has definitely earned a place on my bookshelf for a second read.
“Olena wraps another band of iron around her heart. Let them gloat.”
~ The Taste of Hunger
Title: The Taste of Hunger
Author: Barbara Joan Scott
Copyright: 2022
Publisher: Freehand Books
Financial Support: Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Media Fund
Type: Novel
Format: Soft Cover
Canadiana (print) - 20220231834
Canadiana. (ebook)
ISBN - 9781996011870 (soft cover)
ISBN - 978199061194 (EPUB)
ISBN - 9781990601200 (PDF)
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