 Back
|
Escarpment, Autumn Issue 2008
By Deena Dolan Findlay
Page 88
Dorris Heffron's newest book, City Wolves — a work of historical fiction — wilderness culture will be launched this October.
"Historical romance, pioneering feminism, rough sex, Inuit spirit guides, wolves, dogs, more wolves, real people mingling with fictional ones, a fresh take on the Dawson City gold rush — this is entertainment."
— Ken McGoogan, Pierre Berton History Prize winner, author of Fatal Passage and Race to the Polar Sea.
Dorris Heffron is a dear, dear friend of mine. I can't find enough superlatives to describe either her qualities or her list of accomplishments, but suffice it to say, Dorris is a woman who lives life to the absolute utmost — she is a treasure. I know I will devour her new book, City Wolves.
"City Wolves was inspired, I should even say driven, by a sled dog whose name was Yukon Sally." Dorris recounts, "She enthralled me. I sought to learn all about her, her ancestry in sled dogs and wolves, the land and people of her origins. I travelled with her throughout the Yukon and Alaska. Over the course of her life time, ten years, she led me into ancient times in the Arctic, into the life of the first dog doctor and up to the Klondike gold rush in the glory days of the malamute sled dogs And she dragged me through the most challenging and arduous writing time of my life."
Dorris can perhaps be best described by the following...
The Wolf Credo
- Respect the elders
- Teach the young
- Cooperate with the pack
- Play when you can Hunt when you must
- Share your affections
- Voice your feelings
- Leave your mark
...this is the woman I know and admire.
A tale of ventures and loves, City Wolves follows Meg Wilkinson, one of Canada's first female veterinarians, from a restricting life in Nova Scotia to the wild confusion of gold rush Yukon with its fascinating characters and world of license. Amidst Mounties, dance hall girls, Klondike kings, mushers, priests, and swindlers — all the mangy and magnificent people, dogs, and spirits that suddenly populate raucous Dawson City — Meg finds more than most prospectors. She discovers deep satisfaction caring for the dogs that are so like the wolves who, from earliest days, inspired her into veterinary service.
Yet Meg had also learned a much older story about the wolves, the ancestors of the sled dogs, and about Ike and Fiji, an Inuit couple who had been among the first to bridge the wolf-human divide. Their spirits haunt this story as they inspire and observe Meg throughout her adventures. While their story speaks to Meg and strengthens a passion for her work, it also helps stir her desire for love.
Brimming with colourful characters, drama, humour, and rich historical detail, City Wolves is lively, insightful historical fiction that brilliantly reveals the wolf-like nature of humans and the human nature of wolves.
Dorris Heffron was born in Noranda, Quebec, and raised in Ontario. With an M.A. in literature and philosophy from Queen's University, she has taught at Oxford, the University of Malaysia, and elsewhere. She is author of three acclaimed young adult novels, and an adult fiction novel, A Shark in the House. She now lives at "Little Creek Wolf Range" near Thornbury, Ontario.
|
