by Ruth DyckFehderau
Newest press
2023/$23.95/352 pp.
It’s hard to imagine being four years old, going suddenly deaf and then being left by your father at the Elora Home for the Feeble-Minded—in 1963. From there, Verity Blessure is soon moved to the Holdstock Facility in Alberta. Author Ruth DyckFehderau relieves readers of having to imagine all this, by laying bare what Verity and others at the facility must endure.
Verity’s father, Esau, on the advice of the town’s doctor, gives Verity away while her mother, Jude, is in the hospital. The novel shows a series of terrible choices by people trying to do the right thing. Or perhaps it’s just a series of terrible choices by people who should know better. Verity, somewhat reborn as Athena, later tries to discover her own story, on the advice of her therapist, who says the task may help her regain some of her shredded memory. Through newspaper articles, medical documents, letters, interviews and anything she can access, Athena constructs a profoundly moving, heartbreaking account of how individuals and a society fail their most vulnerable.
Athena struggles with the motivations of those who have such a devastating effect on her. She pieces together her father’s life and reveals the suffering Esau endured as a young man who wanted to study geology, but poverty and family responsibilities prevented his dream. She considers the role played by Harriet, the head nurse at Holdstock, especially in conjunction with Dr. Mol Vestidge, whose first move with Verity is to plunge a filled syringe into her leg, knocking her out for days. Harriet and Mol manage to keep the facility running despite a series of funding cuts that result in an inhumane environment—but an efficient one, thinks Harriet. The novel shows the changing attitudes to mental healthcare (though it’s evident we still have a long way to go, given the number of people who lack homes and care).
DyckFehderau has written a remarkable novel that bursts with cruelty—and kindness. Mental and physical health, sexuality, homosexuality, poverty, friendship, religion, art, even the love of and for a dog are topics layered upon Athena’s search for herself. And the novel has moments of joy that help relieve the pain. For example, Athena’s friend Mr. Saarsgard (who owns an XXX film store) often takes Athena for rides on his motorcycle. He gets goggles for Vincent the dog so he can ride too. Athena notes, “This morning [Vincent] brought me not his leash but his goggles. I believe he wanted to go for another spin. I understand entirely.” As the author/compiler of the book, Athena is gifted in capturing the voices of the various characters and imagining how they may have felt. And of course behind Athena is DyckFehderau, whose novel I (Athena) is rich and complex and deserves a huge amount of attention.
Candace Fertile teaches English at Camosun College.
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Read more from the archive “Mental Health Place and Home” March 2024.
