A Review – The Seeds of Sorrow by Lisa Brown
The Seeds of Sorrow is a very well-written historical fiction, family saga. The time period encompasses approximately fifteen years, beginning in 1919.
In Lisa Brown���s previous novel, The Porter���s Wife, Sarah, a widow with 5 children, had emigrated from Manchester, England, settling in Winnipeg, Canada in 1904. Sarah found love again and Sam became a real father to all of Sarah���s children. This novel, The Seeds of Sorrow, focuses on the adult lives of 3 of Sarah���s children, Margaret, Agnes and Mary with the principal character being Agnes. This novel does stand alone, but is all the more captivating having read The Porter���s Wife.
The story begins with the marriage of Agnes and ends with the death of her husband. The years in between were filled with love and support for each other, the birth of two children, the trials of coping with a shell-shocked husband, a move from Winnipeg to Vancouver, their attempts at creating a life when work was scarce, the tragic death of their son and then the depression and the denials. Throughout, the reader feels the importance of family, the close knit family relationships and the strong work ethic to be self-supporting and independent. The ending to the story was so appropriate and it was expected but at the same time I hated that Art���s life had to end the way it did.
The women in this story are very strong. Agnes��� strength throughout her marriage to her husband Art was unbelievable. Unfortunately she did not share her burdens and sorrows with her sisters but then she was far too proud and too strong of a character for that. Had she shared her heavy load, perhaps her destiny would have been much different from that depicted in the Prologue.
The historical events and places in this story have been well researched and written with accuracy in every detail: the Great Depression, Prohibition, descriptions of railway stations and streets, the Vancouver environs.
The author has cleverly created emotional and vivid pictures in brief, two or three sentence paragraphs of captivating description which, in my opinion, was exceptionally well done.
I did find that The Seeds of Sorrow was slow moving in the beginning but following the family���s move to Vancouver, I was totally hooked and did not want to put the story down. Overall, it was a great story and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good read and especially to those who like historical fiction.
