Accusation

by Catherine Bush

While in Copenhagen, Sara Wheeler, a Toronto journalist, happens upon Cirkus Mirak, a touring Ethiopian children’s circus. She later meets and is convinced to drive the circus founder, Raymond Renaud, through the night from Toronto to Montreal. Such chance beginnings lead to later fateful encounters, as renowned novelist Catherine Bush artfully confronts the destructive power of allegations. With Accusation, Bush again proves herself one of Canada’s finest authors as she examines the impossibility inherent in attempting to uncover “the truth.” After a friend of Sara’s begins work on a documentary about the circus, unsettling charges begin to float to the surface, disturbing tales of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of Raymond. Accounts and anecdotes mount, denunciations fly, and while Sara tries to untangle the narrative knots and determine what to believe, the concept of a singular “truth” becomes slippery. Her present search is simultaneously haunted by her past. Moving between Canada, Ethiopia, and Australia, Accusation follows a network of lives that intersect with life-altering consequence, painfully revealing that the best of intentions can still lead to disaster, yet from disaster spring seeds of renewal and hope.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Canada

358 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Catherine Bush loves islands and northern landscapes. She is the author of five novels, including Blaze Island, the Canada Reads long-listed Accusation (2013), the Trillium Award short-listed Claire’s Head (2004), and the national bestselling The Rules of Engagement (2000), also a New York Times Notable Book and a Globe & Mail Best Book of the Year. She lives in Toronto and an old schoolhouse in Eastern Ontario and has spoken internationally about addressing the climate crisis in fiction. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph and Coordinator of the Guelph Creative Writing MFA, based in Toronto. Her nonfiction has appeared in publications including the Globe and Mail, The New York Times Magazine, the literary magazine Brick, Canadian Notes and Queries and the anthology, The Heart Does Break (2009).

Reviews

[Midge Bork · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gave it a five because this is one of those books that sticks with you. Weeks after finishing reading this I am still mulling it over. Did he do it? Was she too lenient on him? Because of her past? Because she met him socially? The narrator of the story is a journalist so she strived to be impartial. Bush does not put a ribbon on it and give you all the answers, not even which way she personally is leaning. I would like this to be a book club read because there's lots to discuss. Real life imitating art: there was a recent report of a conviction of an iternational aide worker molesting children. How much more relevant can you get?

[Jo-Ann Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read this book, I pretty much knew what the issues and ideas would be that the author would explore when someone is accused of a crime: the weight that the media plays; the difficulty organizations, administrations and especially bureaucracies have in investigating their own people; what makes a person accused look guilty (running, a spotty work history); and who will be loyal and who will abandon you. However, I was unprepared for the level of fear in the accused and the wrestling of consciences in a certain group of observers, and how objectivity wavers and how those you have tried to help in the past will use your good name for their own ends. Thankfully Catherine Bush ran all these pathways in a physical search around the globe for the illusive truth. Otherwise this would be an unbearable academic essay on how humans make judgments before they know the truth.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't enjoy this book. I found the way Bush writes to be very flat and unengaging. I was unable to summon any feelings or interest in her story or in her characters. The story itself didn't seem to really have much of a focus - it ambled along, going nowhere fast. For the most part, this was a 2 star book, but after Renaud kills himself, I thought it should have ended there. Instead, it went on and on, for another hundred pages or so. That brought the book down to one star.

I didn't like anything about this book. The issues that she raises - sexual abuse, child poverty, the weight of accusations and the burden of proof - get lost in the grey, dull prose. I almost gave up on the book early on, and now wish I had.

[Steven Buechler]

In this face-paced world of technology and communications, applying a label to someone without giving a second thought has become a hurtful and dangerous task. Catherine Bush has looked at the anguish and hurt of individuals who have been wrongfully labeled and created a complex and wonderful piece of literature in her novel Accusation.

Page 10-11

She knew nothing for certain. It was only an accusation. Abuse: the article didn't specify what kind. Yet, as she knew, an accusation, regardless of truth, has its own life when let loose in the world. Experience had taught her this. The words, released, went on uncoiling themselves. A pulse rapped in her head.
What to do?
Do nothing. Or call Juliet Levin to tell her what she had discovered.

The story deals with the allegations of physical and sexual abuse around a circus founder based in Ethiopia. But as the search for the truth grows, the protagonist recalls her own encounters with false accusations and tries to deal with her own personal issues with family and friends.

Link to my complete review

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accused of something, others must consider the possibility that you are guilty and hold that idea in their thoughts. It could be as simple as a wallet stolen from a gym locker or as grim as vague accusations of abuse. Innocent until proven guilty, but accusations carry immense weight.

The book is filled with ambiguity. Our narrator is having an affair with a married man, his wife battling cancer - does that color our perception of her? The whistleblower that uncovers a paedophila ring is an entirely unlikeable person. The accusers have motive to play up their accusations and the accused seems motivated by entirely altruistic ideals.

Lots of ideas here rendered subtly but I found my focus wandering with the narrative.

[Margarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise that is neatly constructed with striking realism. The writing and storytelling style though is too neutral, almost clinical. Although it succeeded in raising more questions than it did in providing answers, it never fully evoked in me that sense of wonder.

[THE TORONTO QUARTERLY]

Hi, Everyone! Please check out my interview with author Catherine Bush as we discuss her latest novel, Accusation (Goose Lane Editions, 2013). Read the interview and a short excerpt on my TTQ Blog now. http://thetorontoquarterly.blogspot.c...

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book of hers I have red. Liked it, grabbed you right away. Not Book Club calibre but definitely worth reading.

[Dorothy Lloyd]

Got about one third read. Storyline good but it was so boring I couldn't finish.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[EditorialEyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5