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Beth Ryan’s debut novel is authentic and thrilling

In Beth Ryan’s ‘If We Caught Fire,’ the main character’s world goes from zero to 60 in five

JOAN SULLIVAN jsulliva@mun.ca @Stjohnstelegram Joan Sullivan is editor of Newfoundland Quarterly magazine. She reviews both fiction and non-fiction for The Telegram.

“If We Caught Fire”

By Beth Ryan Breakwater Books $22.95; 248 pages

Beth Ryan’s debut novel is a much-anticipated follow-up to her well received short story collection “What is Invisible” and it doesn’t disappoint.

Ryan’s writing is authentic, involving, tactile and affecting.

The story (which moves between 2002 and 2016, but is largely set in the latter) centres on Edie, a university graduate with a degree in sociology/criminology, now working at a veterinarian clinic, for Dr. Arman.

“All the women in the clinic are mad for Dr. Arman; even Edie can see what they’re on about, and she doesn’t usually go for crushes.”

Edie holds herself in, even in her friendships, though she happily traipses and tumbles through karaoke contests and packed bars and dance floors with roommate Dylan and her pal Natalie (they met working in a George Street club).

“She just watches the beautiful, chaotic show that is Natalie’s life and wonders where that freedom comes from and how she might get some for herself.”

Her mother, Daphne, “had followed a logical path” and spent two decades with the provincial civil service. “Someone had to have that kind of security” and it sure wasn’t going to be her dad, Mike. “But she surprised everyone the day she’d announced that she’d applied for a job as a 911 operator.”

Edie’s grandmother, Stella, criticizes the “foolish” decision, even as she talks up her granddaughter: “smart as a whip.”

As for Mike, Stella’s words are you might say pointed.

In the 2002 timeline, Edie’s parents’ marriage is beginning to fracture; Edie first senses the cracks during her latest pastime.

“Ballet is for skinny girls. Edie knew that. Her mother knew that. But Daphne didn’t say a word when Edie told her about the dance lessons that everyone in Grade 5 was taking.”

Daphne always stepped up for her daughter’s interests. But, among the other pupils, Edie finds Melissa, who, unexpectedly, knows Mike. He says he’s just helping out her mom, Trina, a single coworker at the car dealership, who’s “having a rough time. She just needs a little help.” Daphne tolerates this for as long as she can, then they separate.

But, instead of bitter estrangements, connections remain, especially when Mike and Trina have a little boy, Max. Edie adores him and Daphne welcomes him to their house. By 2016, Max is a fixture in their lives, even constructing an online dating profile for Daphne. After some missteps (“Then she met a guy who looked like the husband of a former co-worker – he denied his identity at first but finally gave in and admitted he was just looking for some fun.”) she meets Garth, in oil company management, relocating to Newfoundland and Labrador for a new offshore project.

Garth seems OK, both on (digital) paper and in person, and things develop quickly between him and Daphne. But he doesn’t come solo. He has a son, Harlow, at that moment tree planting in B.C. (His unusual name derives either from the discoverer of the Milky Way or doomed actress Jean Harlow.) Now the narrative is sometimes told through Harlow’s perspective.

“Harlow had hoped to stick it out for a few months, make his way through to the end of the summer and come up with his next plan. But he’s embarrassed to admit that he just can’t hack it any longer. He lies on his back and debates calling his mother or his father. Which one would take more psychic energy?”

Garth doesn’t talk a lot about Harlow, but Daphne takes a chance and reunites them. And Edie’s world goes from zero to 60 in five. There’s nothing Harlow isn’t up for, no gig, no drug, no dawn.

He also has few boundaries and sometimes no judgement. And Edie, careful Edie, who can calm anxious animals, who keeps her cards close to her chest, who planned the grocery lists as a kid so she and her mom didn’t run out of toothpaste, is along for the ride.

“Right. Harlow, the band, the shots of tequila. Edie does not drink tequila. Whose idea was that? It’s all coming back to her now. Oh, it is ever.”

And, in the background, someone is setting fires, a perennial terror in St. John’s downtown row housing.

“Red light splashes across the window, wave upon wave. Edith sits up with a start. // She swings out of bed and creeps to the window. The fire truck is a few doors down. Her new neighbours’ house – a couple from Syria who moved in a few months ago with their little kids.”

The story that unfolds, across several levels and layers, is accomplished, assured, and rewarding.

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2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

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