Drift

by Leo Brent Robillard

Paardeberg, South Africa is far from the Canadian prairies. In 1899, best friends from the small town of Portage la Prairie, Will and Mason, sign up with the Winnipeg Rifles’ “A” Company to fight in the Second Boer War. Here they meet Robert, the silent anthropologist from Alberta with a mystery he isn’t revealing; Claire, an Australian nurse, chafing under her parents’ glass ceiling; and Campbell Scott, a rebellious veteran with an African wife and a hot air balloon requisitioned by the army for spying.

All are fleeing their former lives but to be free they must face the shattered bodies of war. In the dust and desert of South Africa, they drift towards each other in ways that can spell either disaster or salvation. Different reasons fuel each person’s Mason wants to fight in the name of justice, pride, and manliness. Will, hesitant from the start, ultimately learns that war is hell. Claire struggles for independence, and Campbell Scott drowns his disillusions in his wife’s potent homebrew.

Drift is about challenging and crossing borders and boundaries between and within countries, races, and individuals. History and fate have some hold over the characters but ultimately they have to make decisions in order to stop drifting. With breathtaking grace, Leo Brent Robillard delivers an unstoppable story.

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Leo Brent Robillard is an award-winning author and educator. His novels include Leaving Wyoming, which was listed in Bartley's Top Five in the Globe and Mail for best first fiction of 2005; Houdini's Shadow, which was translated into Spanish; and Drift which was long-listed for Canada's Relit Award. His most recent novel is The Road To Atlantis, released in September 2015. Robillard's work has also appeared in magazines and journals at home and abroad, including Arc, CV2, The Fiddlehead, Grain, Prairie Fire, Queen's Quarterly, and Verge. In 2011, he received the Premier's Award for Teacher of the Year in the province of Ontario.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book about two Manitoba boys who enlist to fight in the Second Boer War, but it was a little too overly poetical at times, and I would have liked to see some of the characters fleshed out more. This has given me renewed inspiration to read Fred Stenson's The Great Karoo, though.

[Caroline Bergeron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the advanced copy. Great! I want to re-read it when it officially comes out!

[Plamen Miltenoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh...
not bad
learned more about the Boer War
clear language, interesting perspective, but nothing amazing