Providence Point

<p>SOMETHING remarkable occurs when Rob Kingsmere unpacks his memories of Providence Point a long-lost cottage on Georgian Bay. 1950s and '60s recollections flow into a sunny narrative of vacations spent in that paradise. Yet shadows gradually cloud the horizon.</p><p></p><p>Boyish camaraderie jostles with simmering family discord cherished serenity with the threat of turmoil and time-honoured Bayside ways with the city's siren call. At length Rob and his two closest northcountry companions must each confront the same challenge: how to maintain their most precious aspirations? For Rex that imperative may require a hazardous fresh start in Toronto for Hank a renewed commitment to Georgian Bay. And for Rob perhaps some fusion of the two if only it can be finessed.</p><p></p><p>As readers turn the novel's final page they will be swept by nostalgia for such memorable figures as Granny basking in the glory of her fabled run-in with a rattler (or was it a bear?) Violette presiding over her garden replete with produce and knee-high helpers Dudley contemplating his beloved pie-shaped boat or any number of matchless others. And like Rob all will treasure having resided at least fleetingly in an almost if not quite perfectly untarnished realm.</p><p></p>