“Leaving Wisdom”
By Sharon Butala / SaskBooks
Published by Thistledown Press
$24.95 ISBN 9781771872362
I first fell in love with Sharon Butala’s writing in the 1990s when someone gifted me a copy of her No. 1 best-selling book The Perfection of the Morning. Since then, I have followed her writing journey closely, devouring almost all of the 20+ books she has penned. Butala’s ability to craft a story that sticks with you long after you’ve turned the last page continues with her latest book, Leaving Wisdom.
This is a fascinating novel centred around an intriguing character named Judith. The mother of four adult children, Judith is headed to her own retirement party when she slips on a patch of ice. She whacks her head and suffers a life-altering concussion. Struggling to recover and deal with the memories that her fall seems to have dislodged, she moves from big-town Alberta to small-town Saskatchewan to be closer to the family farm. What ensues is a wild journey filled with unanswered questions and a woman’s quest for the truth.
The book is divided into three parts: Wisdom, Sage and Jerusalem. Hesitant to give away too much, I’ll just say that the third part shares the story of Judith travelling to Israel to find some truths. That chapter is captivating and pulls you in with its authenticity. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Butala has been to Tel Aviv as she brought that world to the pages of this book.
I wrongly assumed the word wisdom in the title referred to someone’s knowledge but it doesn’t. It is the name of the town that the book is primarily set in. As someone originally from small town Saskatchewan, I easily pictured Wisdom as any of the places I’ve driven through as I meandered around the province. The fictional location of Wisdom is filled with many things you’ll often find in those small towns: stagnancy, biases, and neighbours who make a pastime of being in everyone else’s business. It’s a setting that could’ve been forgettable but under Butala’s hand, Wisdom is as memorable of a character as any of the people in the book.
As with her other books, one of my favourite writing skills of Saskatchewan-born Butala (she was born Sharon Annette LeBlanc in Nipawin in 1940) is her ability to draw a picture in the reader's mind with her words. For example, in chapter 12 Judith shares a dream she’d experienced and Butala does such an excellent job drawing the mental picture that you feel like you experienced the dream yourself.
If you are looking for a novel that will grip you from page one that deals with family secrets and the long reach of the past, I cannot stress how fast you should run to pick up a copy of Leaving Wisdom.
This book is available at your local bookstore or from www.skbooks.com.
