Random Descent

by Katherine Govier

When Jennifer Beecham decides to call it quits with her philandering husband, she heads south to her grandparents' house, to discover her family's past. Through their memories, Jennifer is able to piece together the story of her ancestors. Beginning with a tale about an exiled Irishman who killed a priest, the history continues with Randall, the gambler who lost the family's fortune, and the rebellious Wilcox who joined the railroad the way another man might have joined the circus. Ambitious in scope, lucid and gripping, Random Descent is not only a history of one family, but also of western Canada.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Katherine Govier is the author of eleven novels, three short story collections, and a collection of nursery rhymes. Her most recent novel is The Three Sisters Bar and Hotel (HarperAvenue). Here previous novel, The Ghost Brush (published in the US as The Printmaker's Daughter), is about the daughter of the famous Japanese printmaker, Hokusai, creator of The Great Wave. Her novel Creation, about John James Audubon in Labrador, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2003.

Katherine's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the United Kingdom, the United States, and throughout the Commonwealth, and in translation in Holland, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Japan, Romania, Latvia and Slovenia. She is the winner of Canada's Marian Engel Award for a woman writer (1997) and the Toronto Book Award (1992). Creation was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2003.

Katherine has been instrumental in establishing three innovative writing programs. In 1989, with teacher Trevor Owen, she helped found Writers in Electronic Residence. In 2011 she founded The Shoe Project, a writing workshop for immigrant and refugee women. She continues as the Chair of its Board of Directors. In 2019 Katherine was made a member of the Order of Canada.

She has edited two collections of travel essays, Solo: Writers on Pilgrimage and WIthout a Guide.

Reviews

[Kristine Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved "Creation" by Katherine Govier and was looking forward to reading this novel. A convoluted review of a family tree. I love the idea that the author came across a family tree and decided to make up stories about each family member. It was confusing a bit as she smudged the timeline, moving forward but then receding and some of the successive family members had the same names. The sketched family tree at the back of the book was very handy. A bit slow going, but it isn't a long book and I enjoyed the ordinariness of these names as they were lifted off their perch in the one-dimensional family tree.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The photograph in its oval frames lies with the old albums in the years-long darkness of an old wooden trunk in the basement. When Jennifer lifts the curved and creaking lid, the face of an old woman under glass takes the light like a yellowed, all-seeing eye. You could tell me, Jennifer says to the eye.”

These opening lines from Katherine Govier’s “Random Descent” launch the reader into a retrospective of Jennifer Beecham’s ancestors. Jennifer has traveled to California, after pulling the plug on her marriage to a philandering husband, to spend time with her grandparents Chas and Constance and learn the history of her family.

“Random Descent” is a challenging read as it shifts back and forth between three families across several generations. It can be difficult to follow the shifts and keep track of where you are in time and which family story you are currently in – in part because given names are often passed down from parent to child. For this reason, there is a detailed family tree at the front of the book. You’ll need to refer back to it regularly to stay with the flow.

Despite the meandering plot line, “Random Descent” is an engaging read as it weaves together the threads of the three families – exploring both the external forces and the internal emotional drivers that shape the individual characters and how each character influences the fate of his or her family and the generations that follow.