Karen Emilson

Historical family saga set in the early 1900s, and spanning close to eight decades, about Icelandic immigrants to Canada who settled around Lake Manitoba not far from Winnipeg. Protagonist Asta is reflecting back on her life. She finds she can see into the past to learn details not available to her at the time, almost as if she is hovering over the scene. She pieces together events that will tell her what happened to her sister, Freyja, after she disappeared. She explores the romantic relationships in her life, examining the factors that fractured and repaired them.

We get to know Asta well. The descriptive language provides a sense of place. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the book, but the device is not as effective in the second, where Asta becomes more unreliable. I liked the pithy sayings, taken from Icelandic sagas, that introduce each chapter, and we learn about Icelandic customs. There is a thread of mystery in it, but it is a slowly developing storyline about the lives of a family living in a farming and fishing community. The tone is mostly sad or tragic, with a few bright spots. I can say I liked it, and the historical part is believable, but I felt the family story did not quite gel into a cohesive whole.
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A beautifully written drama about a family of Icelandic immigrants, Be Still the Water brought something new to the genre of historical fiction. There was a unique juxtaposition of an unreliable narrator, being that she's an old, ailing woman who seems to have a to-be-explained memory problem, with her ability to mentally transport back in time and see everything exactly as it transpired. Good or bad, the characters all feel genuine, and the setting feels very realistic and true to life as an immigrant back in the early 1900s. As she relives the past to find out what happened to her sister Freyja, we watch the family goes through trials and secrets unveiled, as the central character experiences trauma and falls in and out of love, and as the whole community strives for a better future for their children.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.… (more)

Set in the early half of the 20th century, this is the story of an Icelandic immigrant girl and her family at a homestead farm on the east shores of Lake Manitoba. The story covers the conditions prairie pioneers faced. Emilson describes the neighbours and all the hardships and the joys of the small close-knit ethnic community along with the secrets and sacrifices of friends and family members. Throughout the book the ever-present lake is featured. As a friend, the lake provides fish to eat and a means of travel out of the community but also as a foe it floods the farmland and claims the lives of young men during storms and times of thin ice.… (more)