Ship’s fate inspires sweeping saga
“Ghosts of the Southern Cross” is “inspired by true events.” It says so on the front cover, so let’s take things from there.
The Southern Cross, and all 174 men aboard, was lost during the 1914 seal hunt. No one knows exactly what happened or ever learned the true fate of the ship or those aboard her. It is a mystery darkened even more by being in the shadow of the concurrent Newfoundland disaster, a graphic and tragic event that did have survivors to tell their stories, a public accounting to try and bring those responsible to consequence, and of course was brilliantly captured by Cassie Brown’s “Death on The Ice.”
Because its doom was so enigmatic, the Southern Cross promises much dramatic opportunity. Each of those men left friends and family who wondered, forever, what had happened. One of author Nellie Strowbridge’s ancestors was among them, and she has taken that connection and woven a story of two women linked by their relationship to one man, and their friendship with each other.
As the novel opens, Elizabeth Maley and Maggie Taylor are little girls growing up in Foxtrap. They’re so young they still have time free from chores, time to play together on the beach. But even so, their lives are affected by adult events and decisions. Elizabeth’s mother, Mary Jane, has been widowed and worries about raising three children on her own. Maggie’s father goes fishing one day never to return and leaving her with an abusive step-mother, Myrtle. Soon Maggie is sent away to live with relatives and the friends are separated for many years.
When they do reunite, it’s partly because of geography — Mary Jane’s new marriage and Maggie’s shifting family alignments and responsibilities have contrived to bring them closer together. But it’s also due to romance, as Maggie becomes involved with Elizabeth’s brother, Jamie. Maggie and Jamie look set to marry, but he’s determined to start them off right, with a bit of cash. That means getting a berth on a sealer. After much effort he achieves his goal, a ticket on the Southern Cross.
None of this information is a spoiler. It’s embedded from the start of the novel, which opens in 1897 and continues into the 1970s. (And an opening note explains Elizabeth Maley is Strowbridge’s grandmother, and Maggie Taylor a pseudonym for Jamie’s girlfriend; some archival family photos are also included.)
Still, Jamie’s choice is the hub of the story:
Jamie tried to convince himself that everything would be all right. The 325-ton whaling ship had handled other voyages. ... No one said anything about the ship having a wooden hull and that it did not have a wireless, should it find itself in danger of ice and blizzards or an engine explosion.
But much revolves around and outside of it. Fishing seasons come and go, and a war. The women work and work. Children are born, and some die. People go about their intricate daily lives. There is much activity, a multitude of characters. In fact, that is one problem with the book. There is a really big cast, so many it can be hard to follow. Sometimes a person is introduced in one paragraph only to exit in the next few, or to fade away for a good while.
One technique Strowbridge uses to keep all these storylines moving forward is to foreshadow the impact they will have:
The peddler trudged back down the road not suspecting that before the day was over lives would be changed, secrets made and kept for a while. He had no idea how lucky he would be this night after a day with a disappointing turnover of coin and article.
But this can be intrusive, overt. There are also sentences that are puzzling and overwritten: “Jacob’s head of thick, dark hair was smooth as a duck’s back above clear blue eyes. His face had a naturally sculptured altogether look, no part more pronounced than another.”
I just don’t know what that means. Odd descriptions like that can snag the reader’s eye and derail their attention.
Which is a shame, because Strowbridge does understand characterization and pacing. She can keep her characters moving through unfolding decades. Their challenges are daunting and their environments realistic and detailed. The reader is carried along by their trials and triumphs.
Strowbridge is an experienced writer, having published 10 books. As such, she also knows her audiences, and this book, for example, includes talking points for a Book Club discussion. Joan Sullivan is a St. John’s-based journalist, author and editor of The Newfoundland Quarterly.