A Reckoning by Linda Spalding (review)

A Reckoning by Linda Spalding is a Northern Gothic tale of taboo and mystery. Whether it be the heartache of a loveless marriage or the random tragedy of young death, Linda Spalding's clear-eyed prose will soften the hardest heart. The story follows from its prequel, The Purchase, addressing the immorality of slavery through the deeds of the descendants of Daniel Dickinson. Readers who have read The Purchase will know from the dedication inscribed in that book that the author is a descendant of the Dickinsons in these novels. Both books are works of historical fiction, loosely based on the author's recollections of family lore.

The meme of the "road trip" underpins A Reckoning, where each station is a stage of growth for the characters. Parallel journeys begin at the nexus of Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky, and then traverse the mighty rivers of the Ohio Valley and beyond, providing the narrative map, both geographically and for the characters' self-discoveries.

Linda Spalding knows well this ground. She was born in Kansas and lived in Mexico and Hawaii before immigrating to Canada in 1982, to Toronto, which is the destination of one of the protagonists in this novel. She has been acclaimed for previous works, with The Purchase winning Canada's preeminent Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction in 2012.

A Reckoning begins in 1855, one year after the death of Daniel, the patriarch. Elder brother Benjamin is the reckless slave-master who now owns the plantation while younger brother John manages the books and pursues his profession as a circuit preacher. The tale opens on the inciting incidents, the impending bankruptcy of the Dickinson family and the arrival from the north of abolitionist Dr. Alexander Ross, who instructs the family's slaves on how to flee to Canada along the Underground Railroad.

Thereafter, two main plotlines play against each other, fugitive slave Brie seeking his freedom, and the Dickinson family seeking land and fortune. The story weaves through the Cumberland Gap toward the north and then west.

Modern themes resonate in the telling, such as the domination that marks each journey: father over child, husband over wife, man over self, over animals, over nature, and the ultimate sin, the domination and abuse of humans by humans. "What point was there to dominion, domination, dominating," wonders 13-year old Martin, questioning his father's view of the world. Abolitionist Ross muses that America's prime occupation is arguing, that "it was not a communal country but rather devoted to the individual and to personal gain."

As befits a master story teller, Spalding's technique is organic. She makes subtle use of syntax to convey distinct voices. In run-on sentences, many verb-less, we have the interior reasoning of Bry, an old man brimming with wisdom, and then, on the next page, we hear the simple, short, declarative sentences of the boy, Martin, whose world is still mainly objective fact.

In both style and content, the writing bears Gothic tracings. One is reminded of the brutal realism of Joyce Carol Oates, the elegant imagery of William Faulkner, and the deep-seated search for Grace in the works of Flannery O'Connor. Figurative language is deployed with prudence, all the more to grant the burst of pleasure when the eye and mind come upon it. A few examples: Frontiersmen knew the West "like civilized people know cupboards." Feeling doubt about leaving their farm behind, Lavina Dickinson reflects, "Whether planted or plowed or forgotten, a field is the skin of the world, flesh of the earth."

Metaphor also functions as foreshadow: Standing at their campsite, family members "watch the sun like a letter slide into the ground." This is restrained lyricism, emanating from full-fleshed characters who love and hurt and dream.

There are many layers of reckoning in this novel: John is "fastidious with accounts" and enjoys "the pleasure of numerical balance." He admonishes brother Benjamin to pay their debts and preaches that "what we do has consequence." The hypocrisy of the pious bears consequence. The immorality of slavery...