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Children of the Day
Children of the Day opens on a June morning in 1953, when Sara Vandal, convinced that her husband has been having a decades-long affair, decides that she is too sick to get out of bed. With ten children in the house (and a possible eleventh on the way), this decision sets off a day of chaos, reflection and near disaster for the Vandal family.
Sara’s husband, Oliver, heads to the town hotel and bar in Union Plains, Manitoba, where he has been the manager for the past twenty years–a position he suspects he’ll no longer have by the end of the day. In an attempt to avoid the unavoidable, Oliver decides instead to pay a visit to Alice Bouchard, his childhood sweetheart across the river.
Throughout the day, both Oliver and Sara reflect on how their lives collided – a car accident that brought them together and tore them from the futures their families expected of them. Sara (from Sandra Birdsell’s previous novel, The Russländer ) recalls her life in the big city of Winnipeg in the 1930s – a young Russian Mennonite woman lucky enough to escape the shackles of her overbearing culture. Oliver remembers his wedding day photograph–his the only Métis face in a crowd of Mennonites–and the precise moment when he suddenly grasped the enormity of his decision to “do the right thing.”
The Vandal children, too, must deal with this unusual disruption of their daily routine. Alvina, the oldest, secretly handles the stress of her family, her plan to escape them all, and her discovery of the world’s evil in the only way she knows how. Emilie worries about losing her happy-go-lucky father while facing the town’s heretofore hidden racism head-on. The boys live up to their family name by recklessly taking chances and literally playing with fire. And since her mother won’t come out of her bedroom, Ruby, just a little girl herself, must take charge of the babies with danger lurking in every corner.
By nightfall the extended Vandal family will be thrown together to work out the problems of the past and exorcise the ghosts that haunt them, which have all, in their own way, set this June day’s events in motion.
From the Hardcover edition.
Sara’s husband, Oliver, heads to the town hotel and bar in Union Plains, Manitoba, where he has been the manager for the past twenty years–a position he suspects he’ll no longer have by the end of the day. In an attempt to avoid the unavoidable, Oliver decides instead to pay a visit to Alice Bouchard, his childhood sweetheart across the river.
Throughout the day, both Oliver and Sara reflect on how their lives collided – a car accident that brought them together and tore them from the futures their families expected of them. Sara (from Sandra Birdsell’s previous novel, The Russländer ) recalls her life in the big city of Winnipeg in the 1930s – a young Russian Mennonite woman lucky enough to escape the shackles of her overbearing culture. Oliver remembers his wedding day photograph–his the only Métis face in a crowd of Mennonites–and the precise moment when he suddenly grasped the enormity of his decision to “do the right thing.”
The Vandal children, too, must deal with this unusual disruption of their daily routine. Alvina, the oldest, secretly handles the stress of her family, her plan to escape them all, and her discovery of the world’s evil in the only way she knows how. Emilie worries about losing her happy-go-lucky father while facing the town’s heretofore hidden racism head-on. The boys live up to their family name by recklessly taking chances and literally playing with fire. And since her mother won’t come out of her bedroom, Ruby, just a little girl herself, must take charge of the babies with danger lurking in every corner.
By nightfall the extended Vandal family will be thrown together to work out the problems of the past and exorcise the ghosts that haunt them, which have all, in their own way, set this June day’s events in motion.
From the Hardcover edition.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Birdsell
18 books15 followersSandra Louise Birdsell (née Bartlette) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage.
Sandra is the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba and now in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Sandra left home at age fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University Of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the “Night Travellers” and two years after, “Ladies Of The House”. Both are published in one volume as Agassiz stories.
Two events shaped her worldview and influenced her writing, the first when Sandra was six years-old. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four year gap before her next older sister. She felt alone even surrounded by 9 siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder nearby parks and rivers, allowing her imagination to be wild.
The second event was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in “Night Travellers” are based on it.
She is a Mom of three children and Grandma to four. Her husband, Jan Zarzycki is a filmmaker.
Sandra is the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba and now in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Sandra left home at age fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University Of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the “Night Travellers” and two years after, “Ladies Of The House”. Both are published in one volume as Agassiz stories.
Two events shaped her worldview and influenced her writing, the first when Sandra was six years-old. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four year gap before her next older sister. She felt alone even surrounded by 9 siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder nearby parks and rivers, allowing her imagination to be wild.
The second event was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in “Night Travellers” are based on it.
She is a Mom of three children and Grandma to four. Her husband, Jan Zarzycki is a filmmaker.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 21, 2014
4 STARS
"Children of the Day opens on a June morning in 1953, when Sara Vandal, convinced that her husband has been having a decades-long affair, decides that she is too sick to get out of bed. With ten children in the house (and a possible eleventh on the way), this decision sets off a day of chaos, reflection and near disaster for the Vandal family.
Sara's husband, Oliver, heads to the town hotel and bar in Union Plains, Manitoba, where he has been the manager for the past twenty years - a position he suspects he'll no longer have by the end of the day. In an attempt to avoid the unavoidable, Oliver decides instead to pay a visit to Alice Bouchard, his childhood sweetheart across the river.
Throughout the day, both Oliver and Sara reflect on how their lives collided - a car accident that brought them together and tore them from the futures their families expected of them. Sara (from Sandra Birdsell's previous novel, The Russländer) recalls her life in the big city of Winnipeg in the 1930s - a young Russian Mennonite woman lucky enough to escape the shackles of her overbearing culture. Oliver remembers his wedding day photograph - his the only Métis face in a crowd of Mennonites - and the precise moment when he suddenly grasped the enormity of his decision to "do the right thing."�
The Vandal children, too, must deal with this unusual disruption of their daily routine. Alvina, the oldest, secretly handles the stress of her family, her plan to escape them all, and her discovery of the world's evil in the only way she knows how. Emilie worries about losing her happy-go-lucky father while facing the town's heretofore hidden racism head-on. The boys live up to their family name by recklessly taking chances and literally playing with fire. And since her mother won't come out of her bedroom, Ruby, just a little girl herself, must take charge of the babies with danger lurking in every corner.
By nightfall the extended Vandal family will be thrown together to work out the problems of the past and exorcise the ghosts that haunt them, which have all, in their own way, set this June day's events in motion." (From Amazon)
A good story, plain and simple.
"Children of the Day opens on a June morning in 1953, when Sara Vandal, convinced that her husband has been having a decades-long affair, decides that she is too sick to get out of bed. With ten children in the house (and a possible eleventh on the way), this decision sets off a day of chaos, reflection and near disaster for the Vandal family.
Sara's husband, Oliver, heads to the town hotel and bar in Union Plains, Manitoba, where he has been the manager for the past twenty years - a position he suspects he'll no longer have by the end of the day. In an attempt to avoid the unavoidable, Oliver decides instead to pay a visit to Alice Bouchard, his childhood sweetheart across the river.
Throughout the day, both Oliver and Sara reflect on how their lives collided - a car accident that brought them together and tore them from the futures their families expected of them. Sara (from Sandra Birdsell's previous novel, The Russländer) recalls her life in the big city of Winnipeg in the 1930s - a young Russian Mennonite woman lucky enough to escape the shackles of her overbearing culture. Oliver remembers his wedding day photograph - his the only Métis face in a crowd of Mennonites - and the precise moment when he suddenly grasped the enormity of his decision to "do the right thing."�
The Vandal children, too, must deal with this unusual disruption of their daily routine. Alvina, the oldest, secretly handles the stress of her family, her plan to escape them all, and her discovery of the world's evil in the only way she knows how. Emilie worries about losing her happy-go-lucky father while facing the town's heretofore hidden racism head-on. The boys live up to their family name by recklessly taking chances and literally playing with fire. And since her mother won't come out of her bedroom, Ruby, just a little girl herself, must take charge of the babies with danger lurking in every corner.
By nightfall the extended Vandal family will be thrown together to work out the problems of the past and exorcise the ghosts that haunt them, which have all, in their own way, set this June day's events in motion." (From Amazon)
A good story, plain and simple.
October 12, 2011
strange, disjointed, odd book. Not my thing at all.
April 5, 2024
I think I dissociated most of the time reading this book. The summary of the book explains that both Oliver & Sara leave their 10 children alone at their home. I don’t remember anything like that happening in the book. I thought it was gonna focus mainly on the 10 children fending for themselves. I was interested in that because how would they do that since they’re so young. It mainly focused on the parents and the other adults in the story and their past. I was so close do dnfing this book so many times. Maybe it was because of the time period to?? Maybe I read this book at the wrong time. The writing was decent but the story seemed really different than what the summary said(from the book not on the app). I laugh now the summary says it takes place in one day but there was flash backs and it was a span of a couple days or maybe not I don’t know…..
Here is the book summary and if anyone plans to read this let me know if it is completely different than what the book is focused on.
“Unfolds over the course of a single day in June 1953. Sara Vandal refuses to join her family for breakfast and chases her troubled husband, Oliver, out of the house, leaving her ten children to fend for themselves. As the day unfolds, they must all confront the train experiences that have shaped them. Deeply perspective, Children of the Day is the living story of a marriage and a family hanging by the thread”
Here is the book summary and if anyone plans to read this let me know if it is completely different than what the book is focused on.
“Unfolds over the course of a single day in June 1953. Sara Vandal refuses to join her family for breakfast and chases her troubled husband, Oliver, out of the house, leaving her ten children to fend for themselves. As the day unfolds, they must all confront the train experiences that have shaped them. Deeply perspective, Children of the Day is the living story of a marriage and a family hanging by the thread”
August 5, 2022
The underlying source of conflict in “Children of the Day” is the longstanding conflict in Manitoba, Ontario between the Mennonites, who immigrated to Canada to escape persecution in Russia, and the Metis who faced a different but equally demoralizing form of persecution resulting in, among other things, the loss of their land. Sandra Birdsell sets up a classic conflict that brings the two cultures into an uneasy alliance.
Sara Vandal, of Mennonite descent, is worn down by giving birth to and raising 10 children which her mostly absentee husband Oliver leaves entirely in her care. Oliver Vandal is troubled by decisions and acts that narrowed his prospects in life and is unable to let go of the great love of his life who he was deemed not good enough to be wedded to.
The cultural conflict amplifying tension in “Children of the Day” largely plays out over the course of one day in June 1953, with periodic flashbacks to events of the past, where the fragile foundation of the family unravels.
It is an intriguing premise with no shortage of emotional turmoil to explore. However, the narrative rambles a bit too much for my liking as it shifts between the perspectives of Oliver, Sara and several of their children. Hence, it falls into the good but not outstanding category in my rating system.
Sara Vandal, of Mennonite descent, is worn down by giving birth to and raising 10 children which her mostly absentee husband Oliver leaves entirely in her care. Oliver Vandal is troubled by decisions and acts that narrowed his prospects in life and is unable to let go of the great love of his life who he was deemed not good enough to be wedded to.
The cultural conflict amplifying tension in “Children of the Day” largely plays out over the course of one day in June 1953, with periodic flashbacks to events of the past, where the fragile foundation of the family unravels.
It is an intriguing premise with no shortage of emotional turmoil to explore. However, the narrative rambles a bit too much for my liking as it shifts between the perspectives of Oliver, Sara and several of their children. Hence, it falls into the good but not outstanding category in my rating system.
June 7, 2018
Really liked this book. A day in the life of a family with 12 children living south of Winnipeg in rural Manitoba in the ‘50s. There are flashbacks and chapters rotate between different characters’ points of view. Really moving and beautifully written.
October 19, 2017
Wonderful! Very good writing.
July 25, 2023
I picked it up by chance, lucky chance. I have a new favourite author.
February 23, 2017
Things I liked about this book:
- The narrative changed between characters very fluidly. This made the book enjoyable and it wasn't hard to follow the dialogue even though there were no quotation marks.
- The time line wasn't linear. The narrative would weave between a character's present situation then jump to 15 years ago then back to the current the present. I didn't find it difficult to follow.
- The setting being in rural Manitoba was something that I hadn't experienced recently in my readings and I enjoyed being taken throughout the small town life of the characters.
Things I didn't like
- There are a lot of family members in this book and I wish that there had been more development for some of them. I found myself wanting a bit more detail on Emilie's life or The Other One but their characters weren't explored very much.
- The structure of the story is quite flat with a slowly slopping upwards rising actions and a small falling action. This made the book a nice casual read but left me wanting a bit more detail at the end.
- The narrative changed between characters very fluidly. This made the book enjoyable and it wasn't hard to follow the dialogue even though there were no quotation marks.
- The time line wasn't linear. The narrative would weave between a character's present situation then jump to 15 years ago then back to the current the present. I didn't find it difficult to follow.
- The setting being in rural Manitoba was something that I hadn't experienced recently in my readings and I enjoyed being taken throughout the small town life of the characters.
Things I didn't like
- There are a lot of family members in this book and I wish that there had been more development for some of them. I found myself wanting a bit more detail on Emilie's life or The Other One but their characters weren't explored very much.
- The structure of the story is quite flat with a slowly slopping upwards rising actions and a small falling action. This made the book a nice casual read but left me wanting a bit more detail at the end.
January 7, 2008
I ran across this novel while I was doing research on Metis culture in Canada and the Great Lakes region and vowed I would read it when I was done with my grad studies. It is hardly as bad as previous reviewers have claimed here, but Birdsell does not have the skill here to pull together the disparate stories of the various members of the Vandal family, whom I found endearing though dysfunctional. The main story is about how the parents of this large clan met, married, and built their life together, and this in itself should have been the focal part of the novel. When the narratives of the older children are introduced, the text starts to get bogged down in adolescent angst and confusion. I also had hoped to see a larger portrait of Metis culture, but because Oliver, the primary Metis character, is sidelined by his wife and children in the narrative, Metis life in Winnipeg before and after World War II doesn't get much play here. There's a fascinating novel yet to be written about Metis/Mechif culture---I hope there's some young Canadian novelist out there who's doing that now, for Children of the Day unfortunately isn't it.
August 29, 2013
This is a very underrated piece of Canadiana, and a very ambitious one at that. I count over 17 distinct characters, of course not all of whom develop, and the breadth of the story spans several decades despite claiming to cover the events of one single day. We learn of history, the immigrant experience, a touch of Metis culture, and a whole lot of daily life in rural Manitoba in the 1950's. There is suspense, a weaving of stories, subtle humour, and a heaps of atmosphere and tone. This book requires a second read and perhaps a sketch of the family tree to keep characters straight. This book also requires patience and an appreciation for detail. I call this 'slow reading', the kind you savour and enjoy for the sake of our shared experience of being a Canadian.
February 6, 2012
I enjoyed this profile of a family I would have at one point in my life dismissed as "low class" and I appreciated the opportunity to get to know so many of them through Birdsell's use of multiple POVs. She never judges them, just lays out their struggles and dreams, allowing the reader to reach her own conclusions. I liked learning more about Metis and Mennonite history in Canada; Birdsell gives us just enough of the history to provide context for her characters' story. The writing is clear and evocative with many "ah" moments for me as a writer.
February 15, 2016
I really liked this book. I think it was a realistic representation of family life in the 1950's between two people from totally different cultures, who did not communicate very well. Loved her descriptions.
March 19, 2007
Kind of bland. I wouldn't bother.
July 20, 2007
This one is a struggle. The characters are unappealing and the story is depressing. I don't know if I should finish it or just give up.
December 30, 2013
Explores the tumultuous relationship between the Metis and the Manitoba Mennonites.
Read
August 30, 2014Could not get interested in the book so returned without reading.
Want to read
January 10, 2009recommended by alberto manguel
Read
December 6, 2017I really enjoyed the details and connections between the Mennonite and the Métis communities of which I had scant knowledge. Interesting how the events of one single day lead to learning the history, dreams, and hopes of an unconventional but very large family.
I am trying The Ruslãnder, now, but it looks like hard work.
I am trying The Ruslãnder, now, but it looks like hard work.
Read
June 18, 2018Beautiful lyrical writing. My Canada has so many layers.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews