Novel paints picture of alcohol abuse
Lethbridge author spent five years researching, writing ‘Irrepressible Maggie’
Lethbridge’s Al Barnhill is no stranger to writing books. A former management professor at the University of Lethbridge, he has written five management books along with penning a book about his experiences playing oldtimers hockey.
His latest book, his first venture into fiction, tackles the very serious issue of alcohol abuse.
“Irrepressible Maggie — rebounding from alcohol impaired decisions” puts a human face on a problem that pilfers enormous social and economic costs from society. His aim is to raise awareness and understanding about “the numerous and various adverse effects of a widespread and growing social condition: alcohol abuse,” Barnhill says in the preface.
It’s “one of the most complex, costly challenges facing Canadian society,” he notes.
Barnhill’s research for the book led him to discover that the problem is growing particularly fast among the female population. He quotes leading Canadian journalist Leah McLaren, who wrote: “All over the Western world, women are drinking more than we ever did before. The latest Statscan figures show a startling 30 per cent rise in the number of Canadian women in risky drinking … from a decade ago.”
Barnhill paints a picture of this issue through Maggie, who begins drinking as a child around the family’s kitchen table and goes from there to a life in which alcohol abuse fuels a series of “wrongheaded choices” involving everything from her relationships to her business decisions.
But the author also seeks to offer hope by showing “how motivated people, often with the help of others, are resilient enough to bounce back from serious situations resulting from alcohol-influenced decsions.”
Writing the book took five years. “I could earn a doctorate in half that time,” Barnhill says, noting, “It was quite a learning experience in the course of writing and researching it.” During that time, he also listened to the stories of many people who, when they found out the nature of the book he was writing, felt compelled to share their own experiences. While his book is a work of fiction, Barnhill says the issues it portrays are very real. Alcohol abuse ripples out into so many areas, including mental health, physical health, crime, etc.
“There’s a lot of issues related to it,” he says, adding the social costs include marriage breakdowns and violence. It’s a problem he thinks could be better handled with a more concerted effort by all levels of government. “A lot more can be done,” he says.
Barnhill is trying to do his part by donating proceeds of the book to Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) and Alcoholics Anonymous.
He also hopes readers will find the book insightful.
“That would be my ultimate objective, and hopefully saving people from suffering,” he says. “There’s so much suffering related to alcohol abuse.”
“Irrepressible Maggie — rebounding from alcohol impaired decisions” is available at the University of Lethbridge bookstore and Chapters in Lethbridge.