Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Sointula by Bill Gaston




On a tiny island just off the northernwestern tip of Vancouver Island is a fishing village named Sointula -- a Finnish word meaning 'place of harmony'. It was settled by Finnish immigrants in 1901, seeking an island utopia.

In his fifth novel, Gaston gives us equal parts light and dark, compassion and irony, the story of a modern-day female Don Quixote, who is joined on her quest by a would-be travel writer, an awkward, profane, funny and unforgettable Sancho Panza