The Outlander by Gil Adamson was our book club choice for August. To discuss this novel, we sat around a lovely campfire (even roasted marshmallows) beside Katchewanooka Lake, under a gorgeous, star-filled sky.

Set in the wilderness of western Canada at the turn of the last century, The Outlander is about a young woman widowed by her own hand (perhaps for good reasons), who is trying to escape her dead husband’s vengeful brothers.

Our discussion raised a few questions about plausibility and predictability – and whether the romance was entirely necessary – but in the end we agreed that this was an enjoyable and compelling story with engaging and interesting characters, many of them archtypal and worthy of lengthy discussion. We particularly enjoyed “The widow,” who begins her journey as a nineteen-year-old, incompetent at nearly everything, but who, with help from a few key characters, hones her survival skills along the way. This is a well-crafted novel, written with beautifully  inventive and thought-provoking language by a novelist who is also a poet.