Customer Reviews

The Horseman's Graves

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This is a story that takes place in Southern Saskatchewan approximately in the 1920s. A small rural town with a Catholic church as its centre and German immigrants as its inhabitants. The people are poor, the town is isolated and the citizens live a life of Christianity mixed with old-country superstitions. This tale of a town focuses mainly on two families, both outcasts from the others for very different reasons. The narrative switches focus from main character to main character propelling the story along quickly. Ultimately this is a tale of loneliness, superstition, coming of age, murder and love.

This is a difficult book to summarize plot-wise as the plot unravels layer by layer and there is no way to talk about it without giving away spoilers. My opinion, on the other hand, is easy to summarize. I absolutely loved it! One of the best books, I've read this year. The story and the characters are haunting, the plot is many layered but it is the characterization that propels the story along. Nothing can compare to living on the desolate prairies in the early 1900s and to see how the early settlers, especially the women, managed and survived, though not always happily, makes for a riveting read. There are always eccentric characters found in this type of setting and many abound in this book. Baker's characters are full of life and all of them, nice and nasty alike, are developed to a point where they are real people with actions one can understand and showing feelings with which one can sympathize. These characters will haunt me for a very long time. This is one I plan on reading again someday and I greatly look forward to reading her next book. Highly recommended!

This is Jacqueline Baker's first novel. Set in the early 1900's in the Saskatchewan's Sand Hills, The Horseman's Graves is about a community of German immigrant settlers' in particular, two families; the Schoffs and the Krausses.

Both families have lived next door to each other since their families immigrated. Now in the second generation, the families continue to hold a grudge for each other. Leo Krauss is scorned by the community for his rudeness and his odd behavior. Stolanus and Helen Schoff are outcast from the greater community after their son gets run over by a wagon. He lives but must endure growing up physically scarred, perhaps with mild brain damage, and suffering from seizures. Many of the superstitious community still believe that seizures are the work of the devil.

Despite all this, the Schoff farm prospers and with the help of Lathias, the Schoff's young farmhand the boy grows up. Meanwhile, Leo Krauss gets married to a woman who has a teenage girl, Elizabeth. Lathias and the Schoff boy befriend Elizabeth and starts taking almost daily horseback rides to the river. One day in the winter the Schoff boy and Elizabeth go to the river alone and argue about Lathias. The boy walks away, but looks back and no longer sees Elizabeth. It is presumed that she fell through the ice and drown, but the body is not recovered. There is speculation the Schoff boy may have done something intentionally, but this is never proved.

Though this story takes a slow meandering path, it depicts the beautiful yet harsh landscape of the Saskatchewan Alberta boarder and has many plot twists and turns. It does go somewhere, but you must be willing to travel slowly, at least at the beginning. I am not always the most patient reader. I usually like to get into the plot rather quickly. However, I enjoyed the slower journey that Jacqueline Baker's takes us on. The journey of passion, sin, redemption, through an amazing landscape of time, place, and people.

I look forward to reading more by Jacqueline Baker and recommend this book.