The Punishing Journey of Arthur Delaney
by Bob Kroll
Narrated by Blair Williams
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Pub Date Jun 30 2022 | Archive Date Jul 31 2022
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Description
For readers of Paulette Jiles and Gil Adamson, a 19th-century tale of a father’s greatest regret and path to redemption
Devastated at his wife’s death and stricken at raising two girls and a boy on his own, Arthur Delaney places his children in a Halifax orphanage and runs off to join the Union Army in the American Civil War. The trauma of battle and three years in a disease-ridden prisoner-of-war prison changes his perspective on life and family.
After the war, Delaney odd-jobs his way up the American east coast and catches a schooner to Halifax. There he discovers the orphanage has relocated to a farm in rural Nova Scotia. His children are not there. They and others had been sold and resold as farm workers and house servants through the Maritime provinces, as well as Quebec and Ontario. Their whereabouts is unknown. Arthur Delaney sets out on a punishing 20-year journey across Canada to find them.
This is a heartbreaking, beautifully told story of a father’s attempt to reconnect with his children
Available Editions
| EDITION | Audiobook |
| ISBN | 9781773059983 |
| PRICE | |
| DURATION | 6 Hours, 22 Minutes |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Anita W, Reviewer
This is a truly remarkable tale of loss and redemption, narrated to perfection. It’s the story of Arthur Delaney whose wife died leaving him with three young children. He broke a promise to his dying wife to keep the family together, left the children in a home and left Canada to fight in the Civil War. He intended to return, but events were against him and it was some years befor he was able to get back to Nova Scotland and collect his children. But the home was gone and the children dispersed. This is the story of a lifelong journey to track them down.
The narrative absolutely captures the anguish and heartbreak, often in a very understated way. It moves between Delaney and each of his three children so the reader understands the difficulty he faces in trying to find them. Along the way there’s a cast of characters all of whom give fascinating insight into life in rural Canada in the mid 1800s. Knolls research seems meticulous with details about logging and remote mining towns, working Canadians and much more. There’s a real feel for the landscape but most of all, the central characters are people whose lives have been torn apart through no fault of their own. It’s haunting, heartbreaking and lyrical. Knoll tells an incredible story and is a truly gifted writer. This rates as one of my top 10 audiobooks of all time for content and narration. I can’t rate it highly enough.
My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.
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