Felt

by Mark Blagrave

Felt is a novel about remembrance – what memories we cannot forget and what memories we lose ― and the lengths to which we go to recover the forgotten and erase the unforgettable.

Matthew, a Toronto museum curator, returns home to New Brunswick to his mother who is wrestling with the challenges of living alone at age ninety-six. As mother and son face the prognosis of her developing Alzheimer’s disease, the pair begin to unfold a family saga marked by ingenuity, creativity, and resilience. Matthew pieces together the untold story, spanning three generations and two World Wars, of a Norwegian sardine-packer ― his grandmother ― who founded a handicraft empire in Loyalist territory. At the same time, his mother rearranges her past, her memory spinning and embroidering family history. A heart-rending and powerful story of three generations of a family in a small Maritime town in which shared and contested memories are woven, unraveled, and rewoven.

Genres: Canada, Family

324 pages, Paperback

Published August 6, 2024

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Reade, the beleaguered protagonist of Felt by Mark Blagrave, is a man of late middle age faced with the distressing task of placing his 96-year-old mother in a care home. Matt has taken a leave-of-absence from his job as a museum curator in Toronto and returned to Saint Andrews, the town in New Brunswick where he grew up, to check on his mother, Penelope. But Matt’s journey is also a convenient escape and something of an act of self-preservation. His marriage to Jennifer is in trouble because he had an affair, and the museum director is not sorry to see him leave after a decision Matt made resulted in damage to an artefact. Matt bolsters his case for taking leave by conjuring up a research project and with Jennifer’s encouragement, heads east. In Saint Andrews, Matt finds his mother having good days and bad days: intermittently capable of fending for herself but also, with increasing frequency, confused and forgetful. In a short time, Matt realizes the outcome he feared is inevitable and steels himself for the task ahead. Thank goodness for 80-year-old Bernadette, Penelope’s best friend and right-hand support person (it was a phone call from Bernadette that alerted Matt to his mother’s worsening condition). From the moment of Matt’s arrival in New Brunswick, Blagrave’s novel centres on issues of memory, the pleasures and comfort it brings, the tricks it can play. Matt, stimulated by hazy recollections of his early life and the town where he spent his childhood, begins sorting through his own past and asking his mother questions. But with her Alzheimer’s progressing daily, Penelope is increasingly living in a different past, and occasionally her answers to Matt’s queries demonstrate a loosening grip on the present. Adding a complicating factor for Matt’s and Penelope’s recollections is Thora, Matt’s grandmother and Penelope’s mother, dead fifty years but still a vivid presence in both their minds. As Penelope recedes further into the uncertain realm of memory, the boundary between her own past and Thora’s becomes blurred, until Matt is sometimes left wondering if the events she’s recalling are her own experience or that of her mother. Blagrave deftly intermingles three separate but connected narrative threads: Matt’s present-day story, the mess he’s made of his life in Toronto and the heart-rending situation with his mother; the story of Penelope’s struggle to maintain a grip on herself as the dementia gains ground and her confusion grows; and the fraught tale of Thora’s precarious early years as a Norwegian immigrant in pre-WWI New Brunswick and her battle to assert and preserve her independence. Blagrave’s characters are sharply drawn, individualized and achingly flawed, and his richly nuanced prose brings the historic Saint Andrews setting alive on the page. Felt tells a poignant tale of an all-too-common affliction that leaves its mark on everyone it touches. It is the story of imperfect characters regretting past decisions but trying to do the right thing when their options and their time are limited. In Felt, his third novel, written with restraint and leavened with occasional flashes of humour, Mark Blagrave weaves past and present together into a moving and memorable tapestry.

[Samuelle Saindon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this on the local section table at Chapters - The fish on the cover immediately drew me to look closer. And when I read the blurb, it really drew me to buy it - a book centering a museum curator, a book about memory, what memory means, memory loss, and all of that set in St Andrews? The answer was yes.

Needless to say I really enjoyed this book. I've read a novel or two about memory and altered memories (although more abstract and sci-fi than this), but Penelope's memory sequences, and how her brain flowed from past to present to her mother's memories was very interesting and thought provoking.

[Novels Alive · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 96, Penelope Reade drifts between the present and flashes from the past. Her son returns home to find his independent mother in the throes of Alzheimer’s.

In spite of the odd confusion and repetition, Penelope has a story to tell, recalling adventures featuring her own mother, Thora, who died at age 70.

Author Mark Blagrave slowly weaves together a story connecting past and present in Felt. Penelope is the kind of character we can all see in our lives, that relative who battles against time.

As her son works to move Penelope into a care facility, she reveals stories about her Norwegian roots, including surprising details that make Matt question whether they are fact or fiction.

The New Brunswick setting serves as a reminder of Penelope’s isolation. While the story’s concept is compelling, the delivery is somewhat random and scattered. To follow along, readers have to pay close attention to the details.

Although the title by itself may seem odd, the connection to the story is fascinating. Felt serves as a poignant reminder of how elusive memories can become with the ravages of time. ~ Amy for Novels Alive

[Magnus Jorgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story told in fragments, jumping through time, following a Toronto museum curator, his Canadian east coast mother who is losing her memory, and her mother, a mysterious figure. I found the parts of the story centered around Canadian history, especially Norwegian immigrants during the war, much more engaging than the parts that run parallel to it, set in Toronto. I've thought about what a book written by me would look like, and this came close in some ways - I'm happy to have found it.

[Liesl Mulholland · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is understandable why this book was shortlisted for the Raddall Award at the 2025 Atlantic Book Awards. The author dealt with many complicated themes and wove a very hard process in life (watching your parent age and also deal with memory loss) in such a beautiful way.

The cover art is also just so haunting.

I had a wonderful moment when on page 130 an archaeologist was mentioned in passing - because I actually know her! So that was fun.

Read this book!

[Mike Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this book. The author wrote with a sensitivity and consideration for the topic. When discussing age related brain diseases, there are so many that have a personal connection to the topic. This book will speak directly to them as it relates to the love, frustration and pain of the disease.

[M.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A middle aged man moves back to St. Andrews, N.B. to take care of his 90 something mom who has Alzheimers. The story is told from the perspective of the son, and of the mother, who often thinks she is her own mother.

[Sarah Butland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alzheimer's from the perspective of a son who is living a complicated life and learning how to appreciate the journey of his mother.

[Robert Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book cover caught my eye and then I was intrigued by the story being set in St. Andrews and dealing with alzheimer’s, both of which are close to home for me (figuratively and literally).

[Jim Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly remarkable story of memories, remembering and forgetting too. Another great 2024 read!
Full review to appear at The Seaboard Review soon. https://theseaboardreview.substack.com/